The Other-Worldly Intelligence of Giant Manta Rays.

 

A giant manta ray has figured out how to get a human to give her what she wants. Over and over, she picks him out from a crowd of other divers and hovers above. This is the interaction between fish and human which sets veteran ocean filmmaker Rick Rosenthal on a journey to uncover the intelligence of these immense flattened sharks. It turns out that they just might be the smartest fish in the sea.

 

Year: 2023

Credit: Editor

Producers: Wild Logic and Terra Mater Studios

Format: 4K 5.1 and stereo

Nominations:

  • Official Selection, IFF Water / Sea / Oceans 2023 - Czech Republic

In arid regions across Africa, a remarkable relationship between elephants and termites creates a waterhole – a green oasis which is central to every animal’s life.

 

The story follows an extraordinary community of creatures, that call the waterhole ‘home’ over a season in their lives. They range from a family of elephants to a pair of hornbills (aka ‘Zazu’ of The Lion King) alongside dung-beetles, chameleons, bullfrogs, geese, and killifish. Their Tsavo waterhole home exists for just a few months each year. One moment it’s a dusty depression in a parched landscape, the next a bustling oasis.

 

Year: 2022

Credit: Editor

Producers: Waterhole Films Ltd, Terra Mater Studios, NHK, The WNET Group

Format: 4K 5.1 and stereo

Awards:

  • New York Festivals TV & Film Awards 2023 (USA): Gold Award Episode 01 (Documentary: Nature & Wildlife: Cinematography), Gold Award Episode 02 (Documentary: Nature & Wildlife), Silver Award Episode 02 (Writing)

  • Wild & Scenic Film Festival 2023 (USA): Winner (Best Kid's Film)

  • Jackson Wild Media Awards 2022 (Austria): Winner (Category: Writing)

  • Green Screen Naturfilmfestival 2022 (Germany): Winner (Category: Award of the Juvenile Jury)

Her name is “Toto,” Swahili for small, with the most striking, bright, aquamarine eyes.

 

She was born under a safari camp tent in the Maasai Mara in Kenya. JADE EYED LEOPARD, narrated by Emmy-nominated and Oscar-winning actor Jeremy Irons (“Watchmen”), reveals the first three years of Toto’s life as she learns the fundamental skills of survival and makes her passage to adulthood. World-renowned filmmakers, National Geographic Explorers-at-Large, and big cat conservationists Dereck and Beverly Joubert uncover Toto’s tale with stunning perspective — shot in pristine 4K and seldom-before-seen thermal night vision views.

 

Year: 2020

Credit: Editor and Sound Editor

Producers: Wildlife Films (Dereck and Beverly Joubert) National Geographic NGC Network

Format: 4K 5.1 and stereo

Channel: NatGeo WILD International

Nominations:

  • News & Documentary Emmy® Awards 2021 (New York, USA): “Outstanding Nature Documentary” and “Outstanding Sound”

Chapter 1 Paradise. Chapter 2 Limbo. Chapter 3 Inferno. Chapter 4 Divine Journey.

 

From the wild dogs hunting along its watery edges and the lechwe splashing in its shallows, to the hippos landscaping its channels and the lions that have adapted to a life aquatic – all of the stories in this series have one thing in common: they’re shaped by the life-giving ebb and flow of one of Africa’s greatest rivers.

 

Year: 2019

Credit: Series Editor (Chapter 1-4) and Episode Editor (Chapter 1-2) and Editor for the Directors Cut (90min version for Sundance)

Producers: Terra Mater Factual Studios / Wildlife Films (Dereck and Beverly Joubert) in co-production with THIRTEEN PRODUCTIONS LLC, DOCLIGHTS/NDR NATURFILM in association with PBS, CPB, ARTE FRANCE / Unité Découverte et Connaissance and SVT

Format: 4K 5.1 and stereo

Channel: National Geographic International / PBS Nature

Awards:

  • Best Editing, Best Sound, and Best Documentary Film at New York Cinematography Awards (NYCA) 2020 - USA

  • Best Editing, Docs Without Borders Film Festival 2020 - South Africa

  • Best Editing, Druk International Film Festival 2020 - Bhutan

  • Best Editing, World Film Carnival 2020 - Singapore

  • Grand Prix & Best Editing (Category: Nature), Matsalu Nature Film Festival 2020 - Estonia

  • Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards 2020: Gold Dolphin (Category: Nature & Wildlife) - France

  • Best of Festival, Wildlife/Nature/Animals, Docs Without Borders Film Festival 2020 - South Africa

  • Best Feature Length Documentary, The Jozi Film Festival 2020 - South African

  • Audience Award, Festival International Nature Namur 2020 - Belgium

  • Best Documentary Film, Calcutta International Cult Film Festival 2020 - India

  • Best Documentary Feature, 16 International Film Festivals (JIFF) 2020 - India

  • Best Nature/Travel Film, Best Sound at European Cinematography AWARDS (ECA) 2020 - EU

  • Best Film on Nature/Environment/Wildlife, Best Sound Designing, World Film Carnival 2020 - Singapore

  • Best Film on Nature / Environment / Wildlife, Best Sound, Druk International Film Festival 2020 - Bhutan

  • Jackson Wild Media Awards: Episode 04 (Category: Best Ecosystem Film - Long Form) 2020 - USA

Nominations:

  • News & Documentary Emmy® Awards 2020 (New York, USA): Outstanding Nature Program and Documentary Cinematography

  • Best Audioscape, Jackson Wild Film Festival 2020 - USA

Ancient Maasai culture meets the most iconic cats in Africa

 

For thousands of years, Kenya's Maasai people had an ancient ritual: to prove their skills and courage, young men ventured out into the Savannah to find and kill a lion... But due to habitat loss, poaching and hunting, today there only 20,000 lions left in Africa. As a means to stop the falling lion numbers, the Maasai decided to change their culture: instead of killing lions, the young men now compete in a different physical test: athletics. In 2008, the Maasai Olympics were founded, taking place in Kenya biannually. This way, bravery can still be expressed; while the lion may continue to roam the African savannahs...

 

Year: 2017

Credit: Editor and Sound Editor

Producers: Terra Mater Factual Studios / Wildlife Films (Dereck & Beverly Joubert)

Format: 4K 5.1 and stereo

Channel: National Geographic International / Servus TV

Awards:

  • Best Achievement in Editing - Documentary Feature, South African Film and Television Awards 2019 - South Africa

  • Best Achievement in Sound - Documentary Feature, South African Film and Television Awards 2019 - South Africa

  • Special Jury Award, Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival 2017 - USA

  • Gold Camera (Category: Environment, Ecology) US International Film & Video Festival 2018 - USA

  • Best Feature – Environment and Science, 61st CINE Golden Eagle Award - USA

  • Prize of the International Jury, IFF Ekotopfilm - Envirofilm Festival 2018 - Slovakia

Nominations:

  • Best Conservation Film, Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival 2017 - USA

The story of elephants is the story of ghosts

 

Soul of the Elephant, a film about the gentle soul of one of the mystic and iconic creatures of Africa, a look into the behavior that indicates a deeper more sentient being, the actions that point to a complex understanding of themselves and the world they live in, a look into the soul of elephants, seen through the eyes of two explorers, Dereck and Beverly Joubert. 

 

Year: 2015

Credit: Assistant Editor and Assistant Sound Editor

Producers: Terra Mater Factual Studios / Wildlife Films (Dereck and Beverly Joubert)

Format: HD 5.1 and stereo

Channel: Channel Thirteen / PBS Nature / National Geographic International

Awards:

  • Best Feature Documentary of 2016 Beijing International Film Festival Documentary Sector - China

  • Gold Camera (Category: Nature, Wildlife), US International Film & Video Festival 2017 - USA

  • Best Wildlife Film at the New York Wild Film Festival 2016 - USA

  • Grand Prix, Matsalu Nature Film Festival 2016 - Estonia

  • Special Jury Award, Festival International du Film Animalier d'Albert 2017 - France

  • Golden Green Award for Best Preservation of the Biodiversity, Deauville Green Awards - France

Nominations:

  • News & Documentary Emmy® Awards 2016 , Outstanding Nature Programming - USA

  • South African Film and Television Awards 2017 - Best Editing - South Africa