Anna Dimitriadis Keynote Speaker

Anna Dimitriadis is a multi-lingual cinematographer and TV presenter with experience filming across the globe for international broadcasters. She co-presented Big Cats 24/7 Series 1 for BBC Two and PBS and is currently in Botswana filming the second series, to air in 2025. Previous cinematography credits include Epic Adventures with Bertie Gregory, Animals Up Close with Bertie Gregory, Sentient (Disney+) and Underworld (Curiosity Stream).

Anna is particularly passionate about encouraging women into the outdoors and behind the camera. Having experienced first-hand the effects of a still male-dominated wildlife cinematography industry, Anna has become part of the Wildlife Camerawoman Community, who advocate for women and gender minorities in the industry. After comments of ‘women not being designed’ to work as camera operators, and presumptuous references towards the restriction of the female biological clock, Anna has made it a fervent priority to advocate for women, aiming to instil the confidence and resolve still required to succeed in the industry.

Through sharing transferable skills that have been invaluable to her through her personal journey, Anna aims to inspire through her talks, in particular women and those from minority groups. Stressing that ‘you don’t need a science degree’ if you have the appetite and attitude to succeed in the industry, Anna upholds that diligence, courage and determination should be held in equal measure and be enough to achieve your goals.

Through her remarkable stories, wide-ranging knowledge and assiduous tenacity, Anna aims to inspire her audiences with self-confidence, perseverance and resilience. Subjects she feels passionately about include nature conservation, the reality of wildlife filmmaking, achieving success in the industry without a science background, and being a woman in the industry.

Anna read English at university and spent 6 years behind the camera in ‘human’-based TV. A year working in Buenos Aires as a location scout and assistant producer, inspired Anna to switch tracks again. Deciding to merge her innate love of the ocean and wildlife with her day to day, she retrained for a career in natural history programming. Whilst filming across the globe, Anna observes that she hasn’t seen a single location unaffected by climate change; ‘worrying & terrifying in equal measure’, she is deeply hopeful that her films are able to instil a change of mindset or action from its audiences.

Anna is a remarkably skilled long-lens cinematographer, with broad experience in both underwater camera and drone operating. She has filmed in some of the world’s most remote places, including parts of Antarctica, Argentina and the Central African Republic, and filmed everything from lions to killer whales, and eagles to penguins. Having partly grown up in Greece, Anna began diving at 12 years old. She now holds a Professional Underwater Camera Operator diploma, is a qualified rebreather diver and an HSE Part V commercial diver.

For Big Cats 24/7, Anna was based in the Okavango Delta, a natural paradise in Botswana, home to one of the largest lion prides in the world, with overlapping families of leopards and cheetahs. Anna was the sole female camera operator on the team and spent weeks living, working and sleeping in a safari vehicle. After close calls with sharks in the Galapagos, escapes from forest elephants in the Central African Republic and dives in Antarctica, being unwittingly stalked by leopards at night in Botswana was just one to add to the list.