NEWS
And the reviews are in for ‘GABON: EARTH’S LAST CHANCE’! Absolutely thrilled to see the film was so appreciated across the board. Hopefully it can help move the conversation forward regarding the protection of our planet’s sacred forests.
FINANCIAL TIMES - ‘A gripping SKY documentary’
DAILY MAIL: TV ON DEMAND - ‘Pulls no punches’, ’This hard-hitting film charts the efforts of a Manchester scientist... as he navigates questionable ethics, gun-totting rebels and military coups’
DAILY MAIL WEEKEND - ‘Remarkable’ ****
TV TIMES - ‘Fascinating’ ****
RADIO TIMES - ‘A brutal case study of climate change at the sharp end… this is also an involving human story’
iNEWS - ‘Extraordinary story’
DAILY TELEGRAPH SATURDAY REVIEW - ‘Absorbing’
MAIL ON SUNDAY - ‘Powerful film’
Pick of The Week - Daily Telegraph / Mail on Sunday
Pick of The Day - Radio Times / TV Times / What’s on TV / Daily Star
Pick of The Docs - TV & Satellite Week
Best of Streaming - Daily Mail Weekend
The time has finally come!
GABON: EARTH’S LAST CHANCE - now screening on SKY Documentaries and NOW TV
An enviro-thriller (over 2 years in the making) about the battle to save the Congo Basin - one of the last great Edens. A rich treasure trove of biodiversity and the largest carbon sink in the world, now precariously on the brink of disappearing. This is the new frontier in the fight against climate change.
It was an honour to document the daily fight of the courageous and tenacious people of Gabon - from those in power at the top, to those risking their lives, not withstanding those whose survival is under constant attack. Despite being a little known country, Gabon is a global leader in tackling climate change, offering a blueprint to other forest nations. It forms part of “The lungs of Africa” and yet its own identity is undeniably all heart and soul.
Watch out! An exciting new feature film COMING SOON to SKY Documentaries
An unexpected military coup in Gabon threatens a political family dynasty, leaving the government’s masterplan to preserve its rainforest in jeopardy.
Beginning two years earlier, the film follows a British ecologist (Professor Lee White) as he teams up with a so-called dictator (Ali Bongo) and paramilitary eco-guards to battle illegal loggers, goldminers and ivory poachers, linked to powerful corrupt forces. With presidential elections fast approaching, and the climate crisis ever worsening, everything now rests upon convincing the Gabonese people and the international community to support their conservation efforts. The clock is ticking for this unlikely band of eco-warriors to save the second largest rainforest on earth.
Presented by documentary photographer & chef, Giles Duley, ‘ONE ARMED CHEF’ charts his return to countries impacted by war and explores the food which unites communities amid times of trouble. Bringing together the best of current affairs, food and travel, whilst taking us from Lebanon to DRC.
Filming right before the outbreak of war in the Ukraine, Giles explores the backdrop to the current conflict, photographing the military; sharing food with concerned Donbas residents; interviewing a controversial militia group; learning to make Borscht with an eccentric former Master Chef winner and venturing into the Carpathian Mountains.
Check out this article in The Observer about how Giles found peace through cooking following a landmine accident in Afghanistan which cost him both legs and an arm - link
Whilst our attention is diverted by war, climate catastrophe and Covid-19, it’s business as usual for international organized crime.
VICE WOLRD NEWS has teamed up with the fearless OCCRP to investigate the modern face of organised crime groups - from the Albanian Mafia to the golden meth triangle.
Check out ‘CRIMINAL PLANET’ available now on All4 (UK)/ Canal+ (France)/ Vice (USA)
In Episode 3, we travel across Italy and Romania with journalist Nelufar Hedayat to meet the mafia who claim to have started the toxic waste trafficking trade; those fighting at great personal risk to stop it; and the victims in this dirty billion dollar business.
If we can’t trust companies and governments to manage our waste responsibly, the best action we can take is to generate less waste.
Proud to have contributed to this honest, hopeful film directed by Harriet Bird, about how we can tackle what is undoubtedly “the biggest threat to security that modern humans have ever faced”.
Visit BBC Iplayer to hear more from Attenborough as well as the diverse opinions of some of the ordinary Brits tasked with deciding what we should do to meet our climate change goals.
We follow several members of the UK’s first ever Citizens Assembly organised by Parliament - a historic event in which normal people grapple with big questions about our future. Through this cast of warm, funny Brits, we understand the challenge we all face in the effort to reduce climate change, and start to see what the future might look like in a greener world.
In a unique and eye-opening exercise in reverse anthropology, the critically acclaimed series ‘MEET THE NATIVES’ (2007) saw 5 ambassadors from the Prince Philip worshipping island of Tanna, voyage to the UK to help us see our own society through new eyes.
Now, over a decade later, the crew returns to this small island in the South Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu to find out what the death of their God will mean for the prophecy, in this new documentary ‘PRINCE PHILIP: GOD OF OUR ISLAND’.
A wild island adventure, an alternative obituary, and a rare opportunity to consider the future of the planet as experienced and recounted by our most joyful friends on the opposite side of the world.
Produced by Keo Films for Channel 4 (2021)
Premiering on BBC1 in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, ‘LIFE AND BIRTH’ is a celebration of the incredible efforts of NHS workers. Made in 2019, we never imagined it would be a powerful tonic at a challenging time for the nation, bringing light into people’s locked down living rooms. Far from the glamorised portrait of childbirth we are accustomed to, this 6 part series offers a brave, honest portrayal of some remarkable roller coaster rides - from trepidation to trauma, despair to joy.
“At last, BBC One’s Life and Birth shows what having a baby is really like” - The Independent
The series is currently up on BBC iPlayer for all to enjoy!
It’s time to see why I spent the last few weeks wading through waist high flooded high streets and homes in full rubber gear whilst storms raged all around. The primetime ITV doc - ‘BRITAIN UNDERWATER: FIGHTING THE FLOODS’ is now available to watch and gives a face to the many who fall victim to increasingly unpredictable weather in this country.
Across a Winter that experienced particularly extreme weather (2019/20), including storms Ciara and Dennis, we embedded in the hardest hit communities, filming observationally as family homes flooded, as well as going behind the scenes with the Environment Agency to look at what can be done to improve things for the future.
‘BROKE’ - This eye-opening 3 part ob doc series about working Britain, set against the back drop of crippling austerity, was met with 4 STARS across the board and was PICK OF THE DAY in the Radio Times and multiple media outlets.
Here are some of the reviews…
“A proper documentary made according to old-school rules: watch, listen and stay out of the way. Here was no talk of Brexit, no tut-tutting, none of the gawping or story-sculpting that marred Benefits Street.”
Jasper Rees, The Telegraph
“These moving portraits of 21st-century Britain benefited from having no voiceover: the films spoke for themselves.”
Carol Midgely, The Times
“Proper working blokes don’t often get a chance to have their say on TV. This dour series goes some way to redressing the balance.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail
4 months in the jungle, 2 years in the making and too many sago worm dinners later… 'MY YEAR WITH THE TRIBE' i s PICK OF THE WEEK and WINNER of the Realscreen Awards Lifestyle: Travel & Exploration as well as the Realscreen Award of Excellence: Lifestyle
Produced by Keo Films for BBC2 (2017)
My portrait of Ethiopian spiritual and community leader She Abdulkadir Tuka holding a photograph of his father, who is said to have lived to 133, is chosen as the cover image for the February 2015 issue of Geographical, the Royal Geographical Society's official magazine.
I was bestowed with the unexpected honour of naming a nepalese newborn after interviewing his mother on the topic of maternal health. In the moment, I could only recall the name of my friend who had lent me the radio mic I was holding.
Introducing Himalayan baby Simon…
My short documentary film screened at the Royal Geographical Society as part of a public exhibition, ‘THROUGH THE PEOPLE'S LENS’, from 16 - 26 February 2015 about the Development Progress participatory photography project run by the Overseas Development Institute and award-winning charity PhotoVoice, together with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.