Bristol Light Festival to bring dolphins to River Avon

A light festival will see dolphins "jumping" out of the River Avon and meerkats in Bristol next month.

Bristol Light Festival is collaborating with BBC Studios to install life-size illuminations of the creatures in the city.

The project WILDLIGHT will transform clips from BBC wildlife shows into projections, reflecting more than 60 years of the Natural History Unit.

The free event will run from 2-11th February.

Bristol brewery Left Handed Giant, in Finzels Reach, will be transformed into a giant TV set, with animals escaping the screen to the surrounding area.

WILDLIGHT explores how we see the world, following the passage of light across the globe.

Katherine Jewkes, creative director at Bristol Light Festival, said: "BBC Studios is the home of spectacular wildlife footage and it is something most of us will have grown up watching in our living rooms, so for it to be brought to life outdoors in such a playful way in Bristol is a really exciting moment for us."

Visitors will be able to see penguins peeking around corners, meerkats playing on the wall of Boca Bar and monkeys hanging around the city.

The piece will feature footage captured from well-loved TV series such as Frozen Planet II, Blue Planet II and Seven Worlds, One Planet, viewed by more than a billion people globally.

Tuppence Stone, series producer and director at BBC Studios Natural History Unit (NHU), said the NHU wanted to "showcase wildlife in a new way".

She said: "Who doesn't want to see a huge humpback whale jumping, or the brilliance of fireflies dancing across a building? BBC Studios NHU is proud to be Bristolian and it's time to let the animals out of the TV."

The installations will be lit every evening from 5pm-10pm.

Bristol Light Festival was founded by the Bristol city centre Business Improvement District (BID) and is being run in partnership with the Redcliffe & Temple BID.

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