Meet the team

South African born Francois has made films in five continents. He has produced and directed several major documentary series and...
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South African born Francois has made films in five continents. He has produced and directed several major documentary series and standalone films that were broadcast on numerous television networks, which include National Geographic Explorer, ZDF in Germany, Discovery and the BBC’s Classic Adventure series. He has produced and/or directed the Aspects of Life series, The Last Edens, the Secrets of Nature series for SABC3 prime time and is currently the host of FOP’s Siyaya franchise, a youth nature show. He also has produced environmental education films for organizations such as WWF, CARE INTERNATIONAL, IUCN, UNDEP, UNDP, SANParks and CapeNature. Francois is also an ecologist and environmental consultant and director of EcoAfrica in South Africa. He has written several books including a best-seller that covers his expeditions down the Amazon River.
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Jeandré is an experienced cameraman, Director of Photography & producer with a deep passion for wildlife and humanitarian...
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Jeandré is an experienced cameraman, Director of Photography & producer with a deep passion for wildlife and humanitarian issues. He is a skilled filmmaker with an eye for uniquely showcasing the natural world and a belief that documentaries are the perfect medium for promoting a positive social and environmental change. He has experience in over 60 countries across five continents and is at home in everything from city studios to barren desserts. Having worked with most mediums from film through 4K Raw, his work has been shown across the world through various platforms and broadcasters including NHK, MBC, KBS, SBS, SABC, NBC, etc., film festivals like the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), Durban International Film Festival (DIFF), Jackson Hole and the American Conservation Film Festival and Theatrical screenings in The Labia (Cape Town), The Quad Cinema (New York) and The Bioscope (Johannesburg). He has also worked on projects for donors such as GIZ, UNEP, UNIDO, UNWTO, GEF, AUSAID and UKAID. Productions that he has shot on have also been nominated for several awards, and even scooped two golden horns at the SAFTAs.
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Born in Namibia and raised in South Africa, Gabi is an African at heart with deep roots in the continent. She holds a Bachelor of...
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Born in Namibia and raised in South Africa, Gabi is an African at heart with deep roots in the continent. She holds a Bachelor of Journalism degree from Rhodes University and specialised in television. While majoring in Anthropology and Journalism, Gabi fell in love with the world’s different cultures and people’s various perception of the world. One of her interests is developmental anthropology, which looks at the relationship between environmental sustainability and local communities’ way of life and how this is affected by development. Gabi has created and developed media content for all kinds of projects – from news to lifestyle to corporate to documentaries – and since graduating Gabi has worked at South African online publications e.tv and Channel24 (part of the 24.com group) as a content producer, which involved working on multimedia platforms, and has been working full time at FOP Films since 2014, where she has worked with clients such as SANParks, SADC and GIZ. Gabi anchors the company’s social media profiles as well as proposal development and production management.
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Martin Torresquintero, originally from Colombia, now resides in the USA. He is adjunct faculty at Southern Connecticut State...
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Martin Torresquintero, originally from Colombia, now resides in the USA. He is adjunct faculty at Southern Connecticut State University, works as the Outdoor Adventure Coordinator for the City of New Haven in Connecticut, and is the chief guide at MT Mountain Guiding, specializing in expeditions in the Andes. Martin holds a masters degree in Science Education and Environmental Education, and has worked on efforts to help preserve delicate alpine environments in the Colombian and Ecuadorian Amazon regions, and the rainforests of northern Madagascar. He is also certified as a Wilderness First Responder, Cave and Rescue Diver and Canoe and Kayak Instructor, specializing in providing outdoor adventures for people with physical challenges. He is a published photographer, and has always been passionate about just about any outdoor adventures, from his earliest adventures climbing in and diving in South America, to his more recent adventures kayaking and biking adventures.
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Rean has worked in South Africa, the United Kingdom and France as web developer, technical consultant and interactive project...
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Rean has worked in South Africa, the United Kingdom and France as web developer, technical consultant and interactive project manager. His clients have ranged from local NGOs to multinationals such as IBM and internet bank EGG. He has hands-on experience in the technologies behind website development, desktop application development, CD-rom production and online video delivery. He further has substantial experience at interactive marketing and social media. Rean is passionate about the power of new media to bridge the world information divide and to transform the ways in which we share information. As living proof, he does much of his work from a base on the far southern Cape Peninsula where guinea fowl, baboons and porcupine make up a healthy compliment of his neighbors.
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Sipho, hailing from Mpumalanga, has successfully worked on over 30 films during his time at FOP. He is in charge of maintaining...
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Sipho, hailing from Mpumalanga, has successfully worked on over 30 films during his time at FOP. He is in charge of maintaining FOP’s Pretoria Office, including logistics and supplies. He is also FOP’s tried and trusted driver and on field trips Sipho provides logistical support as well as manage finances for the trip.
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Chaplain is a researcher from Madagascar in the fields of history, culture and environment. He is also the founder President of...
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Chaplain is a researcher from Madagascar in the fields of history, culture and environment. He is also the founder President of Feon' ny Ala ("Voice of the Forest"), a community-based NGO that aims to boost the intellectual capital of students returning to their rural areas from university so that the knowledge gained can be applied to the development of rural communities. He considers the harmonization of indigenous knowledge with modern approaches as essential to finding lasting solutions in Madagascar. Chaplain is interested in getting the POV from communities into film, both conceptually and through camerawork. He also uses participative videography for environmental education and has done pioneering work in this regard on the Masoala Peninsula in Madagascar.
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Kyle is a filmmaker with a passion for the outdoors. He has produced, shot and directed a number of documentaries including...
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Kyle is a filmmaker with a passion for the outdoors. He has produced, shot and directed a number of documentaries including Changing Lands, a documentary on farm evictions in the Eastern Cape, and Maranon Dreams, a story of a first descent of the Rio Maranon in Peru. He has been a cameraman on various expeditions including a Coelacanth Research Expedition in East Africa (2003), The South African Maranon Expedition (2004), four Antarctic expeditions (2005) as well as a trip with FOP to Zanzibar in search of the lost city of Quanbalu (2005). Since then he has filmed FOP films in many African countries. His aims are to take his filmmaking in a direction that will promote awareness about sustainable livelihoods as well as issues around climate change and biodiversity loss. Whenever he is not out shooting he enjoys rock climbing around South Africa and also produced the climbing documentary High Society.
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Jan Post received his masters degree in biology from the University of Leiden, The Netherlands. For his thesis he spent one and a...
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Jan Post received his masters degree in biology from the University of Leiden, The Netherlands. For his thesis he spent one and a half year in the Caribbean studying the effects of spear fishing and aquarium fish collecting on the reefs and laid the ground work for the establishment of the Bonaire Marine Park. He started his professional career as assistant manager of a wildlife reintroduction program in Israel. He then worked for 10 years as an ecologist for a large Dutch overseas consulting firm after which he was invited to join the World Bank where he worked as a senior ecologist. An avid diver and under water filmmaker and photographer since 1965, Jan has dived and filmed all over the world working free lancing for a German picture agency and various magazines. He has had a long association with FOP including filming in the Western Indian Ocean.
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South African born Peet is an underwater and macro camera operator. He has filmed extensively in several oceans, rivers and...
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South African born Peet is an underwater and macro camera operator. He has filmed extensively in several oceans, rivers and ground caves. Peet is a NAUI dive instructor as well as a scientific dive instructor. He was the park manager for the Knysna National Lake Area in South Africa. Peet is an expert in wreck diving along the coast of Africa and he has been deeply involved in environmental education and natural resource management for many years.
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Charles Maxwell was born in the United Kingdom but has been living in Cape Town most of his life as a South African citizen....
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Charles Maxwell was born in the United Kingdom but has been living in Cape Town most of his life as a South African citizen. Charles has been diving for 35 years and, as a result, has an excellent knowledge of the South African marine environment as well as contacts in marine scientific and documentary circles. Charles became a filmmaker in 1987 when he lead a team of divers to explore and survey Dragons Breath cave, the largest underground lake in the world, situated in the north of Namibia. Besides running an extensive video library, specialising in (but not confined to) shark and marine mammal footage, Charles is a professional underwater cinematographer who has worked with many major TV producers worldwide, including the BBC, National Geographic, Discovery Channel and Animal Planet. Charles was a 2002 Primetime Emmy Award winner for his filming of the Natal Sardine Run for The Blue Planet: Seas of Life, produced by the BBC.
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Roger is based in the Okavango Delta where he has been running his own safari company - Roger Dugmore Safaris. He is an...
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Roger is based in the Okavango Delta where he has been running his own safari company - Roger Dugmore Safaris. He is an adventurer that plans and implements exclusive expeditions to some of the world’s most special places. He is a strong believer in the power of unique experiences and stunning images to open the minds of people to new ways of looking at society and our natural world. He has been involved with some of the continent’s most enriching heritage areas, such as remote parts of Zanzibar, Madagascar, mainland Tanzania and Malawi, where he and his colleagues had an unforgettable encounter with The Mountain Where People Disappear. Privileged to live and work in some of Africa’s most spectacular and interesting places, he does what he can to educate the next generation on the concept of a sustainable future.
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Melissa Boonzaaier is a marine ecologist with passion for communicating science to a wide audience. She has an MSc in Zoology...
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Melissa Boonzaaier is a marine ecologist with passion for communicating science to a wide audience. She has an MSc in Zoology from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth, and her research focussed on loggerhead sea turtles in KwaZulu-Natal. In 2011, she won the National Young Science Communicator Competition (YSCC) organised by the South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement (SAASTA) on an article she wrote entitled “Sea Turtles of South Africa” that was later produced as a radio drama. Since then, through various guest speaking and radio presenting opportunities, she has honed her skills, while pursuing her PhD in Biodiversity and Conservation Biology. Melissa believes that communicating science to the public, particularly the youth, will promote nature conservation, healthy natural environments and the advancement of science for the current and next generations. Currently, Melissa co-produces and assists with projects for Francois Odendaal Productions, including documentaries and environmental education videos.
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years’ experience as an administrator and provides ongoing assistance and support with day to day administrative functions and...
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years’ experience as an administrator and provides ongoing assistance and support with day to day administrative functions and logistics to the group. Prior to joining FOP, La-mees worked for the Department of Home Affairs in various departments and fulfilled various positions as an Administrator Clerk, Procurement Clerk, Client Liaison Officer and Human Resource Clerk. Her roles and responsibilities included maintaining proper filing systems, communicating with services providers and travel and meeting arrangements. In addition, she updated the procurement database daily and attended to relevant enquiries from client and maintained staff schedule and leave requests. Before working for Department of Home Affairs, La-mees was an Admin Clerk for Direct Axis as well as for Tiger Brands
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Dimakatso Ramathe has a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Financial Accounting from the University of North West, Vaal campus. She...
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Dimakatso Ramathe has a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Financial Accounting from the University of North West, Vaal campus. She worked for KPMG South Africa as a Junior Management Consultant, assisting the Department of Public Works with the Clean Audit, identifying all irregular expenditure, fruitless & wasteful expenditure as well as non-compliance. She recently completed her South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA) training contract with SizweNtsalubaGobodo Inc., an auditing and accounting company, and qualified as a Professional Accountant (SA). She has experience in compiling annual financial statements of numerous entities ranging from Construction, Consulting, Trusts, and Security. Her experience lies in over 4 years accounting experience ranging from financial accounting, taxation, trust administration and statutory services. As a Financial Manager at EcoAfrica, she controls and manages all financial accounting activities of the company. She is responsible for preparing, analysing, verifying and disseminating critical monthly and yearly financial reports, coupled with budgeting and forecasting to ensure the stakeholders are aware of their financial position. In this position, she leads the development and implementation of effective financial accounting and reporting.
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Toni is an online/offline senior video editor with 18 years of experience in the new media industry. He lived in Amsterdam for 23...
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Toni is an online/offline senior video editor with 18 years of experience in the new media industry. He lived in Amsterdam for 23 years where he studied and worked with many creative professionals in a variety of fields. He has been involved in projects with high-end corporate brands and human rights organizations such as War Child NL. With a deep passion and understanding of music, Toni has filmed and edited at many international music events throughout Europe and has collaborated with many musicians such as Sonic Youth, Lydia Lunch, Pelican, Daniel Johnston, Rodriguez, etc. He was also the owner and curator for over 10 years of the independent film, art and music collective, Small Cities, in Amsterdam.
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