Back in the Zambian saddle
Painted Earth Productions is in the process of finishing up its documentary shoot in Zambia's Lower Zambezi valley, with what should be our last princple photography excursion in April 2008, basing ourselves once more at Chongwe River Camp and Conservation Lower Zambezi.
We are also delighted to be working in conjunction with the Zambian National Tourism Board in helping to promote tourism to this marvelously wild African nation. We hope to soon be taking groups of journalists on exciting fact-finding explorations of Zambia's magnificent wild places, from Livingstone, the Lower Zambezi and Kafue National Parks to the South Luangwa, Kasanka and Shiwa N'gandu. We will be filming as we go! We'll update you as the year progresses!
The Painted Earth office has been blessed with a truly inspirational guest of late - Mark Tennant of Animal Planet's "Mad Mike and Mark" series. Mark has enlisted the help of PEP's Sharon van Wyk to write treatments and scripts for MM&M Series III and has been working with her on some exciting new ideas. Mark joined the PEP team on its annual jaunt to Durban for Indaba - the world's third largest tourism expo - held each year at the ICC. "Indaba is where we get all of our projects lined up for the year," says Sharon. "It's four days of truly fantastic networking and shopping for film location, travel feature and documentary ideas and, of course, some amazing parties!" Mark was introduced to some great possible locations and came away from Indaba buzzing with excitement: "It's been a great couple of days and we have made some nice new connections, and caught up with a lot of old ones too," says Mark. Watch this space!
Lights... Camera... Action!
Painted Earth Productions recently filmed in Zambia's Lower Zambezi valley, staying at Chongwe River Camp on the banks of the Zambezi. Footage is soon to be aired in a short pilot for a documentary on the valley and the conservation work going on there, using the magnificent African elephant as the focal point. The pitch for this documentary received acclaim from a panel of esteemed international broadcasters at Wild Talk Africa 2006 - a gathering of the glitterati of wildlife film-making held at Durban's ICC. We have some interest in this project from National Geographic and local broadcasters.
Most of the footage we shot was of local elephant populations in and around the river. We also captured some fantastic footage in Muguramena - a village community in the Lower Zambezi game management area where human-wildlife conflict between man and elephant is rife. Watch out for us at this year's Wild Talk Africa - being held at Durban's ICC from August 27th to 30th.
On the go in Africa
Painted Earth Productions' director/cameraman Paul Henning is currently involved in the filming of the SABC Africa series "AFRICA WITHIN". This hectic shoot is taking him to various far-flung corners of the continent such as Ethiopia and Tanzania, where he is gathering footage on cultural events, travel and art for the series. He was also lucky enough to film a family of endangered mountain gorillas on a recent location shoot in Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park.
Zambia - the real deal
Thanks to its work on the Lower Zambezi documentary project over the last couple of years, Painted Earth Productions has established a reputation in Zambia. PEP's Sharon van Wyk is currently working on a proposal to publish an in-depth "field guide" type guide book on Zambia as well as a coffee table book on the Lower Zambezi Valley, with partner Paul Henning doing the honours on the photography front. The books will see PEP move into the print media arena - one which Sharon is only too familiar with, thanks to more than 25 years as a top-class journalist in both the UK and South Africa. Besides her writing skills, she has considerable experience in magazine and newspaper production - something which is making PEP a "one-stop" media project shop.
The tree is the answer to our planet's future. It is sacred, mystical and magnificent. It's roots represent the aspirations of the human race, of all life on earth, to go on - to live. In its trunk those aspirations converge to become one goal, one common aim - the salvation of our planet. And its branches are what happens when we achieve our goal - life diverging, spreading, growing towards enlightenment. Without the tree our planet is doomed to become a barren, lifeless desert. Yes, the tree is the REAL secret. One which we will soon be sharing with the world... Watch closely...
Contact: Sharon van Wyk
Painted Earth Productions
183 Bartle Avenue
Murrayfield Ext 1
Pretoria 0184
Republic of South Africa
Tel: +27 (0)83 725 9131
Fax: +27 (0)12 803 6221
e-mail: shazvw@xsinet.co.za
