Francois Odendaal Productions

					Francois Odendaal (B Sc (Hons), Ph D): South African born Francois has made films in over ten countries. He has produced and directed several major documentary series and episodes that were broadcast on numerous television networks, which include National Geographic Explorer, GDF in Germany, and the BBC’s Classic Adventure series. He has produced and/or directed the Aspects of Life series, The Last Edens, and the Secrets of Nature series for SABC3 prime time. Recently he has produced and directed four pilot documentaries of the series A Last Glimpse. He also has produced environmental education films for organizations such as WWF, CARE INTERNATIONAL, IUCN, UNDEP and UNDP. Francois is also and ecologist and environmental consultant and director of EcoAfrica in South Africa. He has written several books including a bestseller that covers his expeditions down the Amazon River.				Director Film Producer Environmental Consultant

					Charles Maxwell: 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.				Underwater cinematographer

					Kyle O'Donoghue (B Journ): 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.				Cameraman Sound Editor

					Jeandre Gerding : Jeandre is an experienced cameraman & producer with a deep passion for wildlife and humanitarian issues. He believes documentaries are the perfect medium for promoting a positive social and environmental change. As an experienced traveller, he has been to over 50 countries and is at home in everything from City Studios to barren desserts. Having worked with everything from film right through to HD 3D, his work has been shown across the world through various platforms and broadcasters including M-Net, SABC, KBS, SBS, Danish TV, EBS, SBS, MBC, DIFF and Jackson Hole. Productions which he has shot on have also been nominated for several awards, and even scooped two golden horns at the SAFTAs.				Cameraman, producer

Jan Post (M Sc):
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.

Underwater cinematographer, Consultant

					Tsiadino Toto (M A): 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.				Logistics Researcher Community Liaison

					Bjorn Rudner: Bjorn was appointed Head of Production and Operations at the Swaziland Television Broadcasting Corporation in 1982. Bjorn’s broadcast experience continued in South Africa working for the foreign television press during the 1986 uprisings and as a cameraman for BBC covering the “Last white elections” in 1989. He has also worked on numerous assignments in the Middle East and Africa for ABC News since 2003. Bjorn has directed and filmed travel and tourism productions for international clients including SATOUR Paris, Sony International and the Thomas Cook Group in Africa, England, Egypt and the Channel Islands. He has also worked on the magazine show ‘Top Billing’ both locally and in Portugal and Brazil. He produced, directed and filmed the 13-part cultural series “Voices of Africa” screened on SABC 1. His expedition documentary “Otjikoto – Lake of Legend” achieved recognition at the US International Film & Video Festival and at the Festival International du Film Maritime et d’ Exploration in Toulon, France. Other organisations he has worked with include the Worldwide Fund for Nature; Discovery Channel; National Geographic, Nordic TV, Fox Searchlight Pictures; the United Nations World Food Program; Conservation International; the Royal Botanic Gardens; Sony International and Prime Circle Music Management. Bjorn has received the Gold Camera Award; Silver Screen Award; and a Certificate of Creative Excellence from the United States International Film & Video Festival in Chicago. He also has over 40 local industry awards to his name, including the NTVA Overall winner and the Nationale Pers and ZSE Awards for the top training videos in South Africa.				Cameraman

					Ryan Davy: Ryan joined the Parks Board at the age of 17 to combine both his passion for nature and film by making wildlife video’s with a small home video camera. With no formal qualification in film or television production, Ryan moved to Johannesburg and started offering his time for free to gain experience as an assistant editor and assistant camera man. After that, he started his own small production house doing adventure and extreme sport documentaries. He has written a feature film titled “Lords of Exile”. Ryan works as a freelance director, DOP and wildlife cameraman. He is always searching for challenges and opportunities to explore his own capabilities and push himself and technology to its limits. He is currently in training to exchange his Sail plane license for a Private Pilots License adding an extra option for clients who require an eye in the sky and to assist in the plight to save endangered species from the slaughter of poaching.				Cameraman

					Sihle Hlophe: Sihle Hlophe holds a BA degree in Television Production, a Post-Graduate Diploma in Marketing Management and a certificate from the Wildlife Film Academy. Currently she is pursuing her Masters in Communication Practice. She has a joint appointment with FOP and our sister company EcoAfrica (see: www.ecoafrica.co.za). She is particularly involved in environmental education using films, as well as developing and using social networking platforms aimed at promoting sustainable use of natural resources. Sihle studied at the University of the Witwatersrand, the AFDA in Johannesburg and Arcada Polytech in Helsinki, Finland. Between 2006 and 2009, Sihle has worked as a production assistant, transcriber, script editor, camera operator, editor, and production coordinator for production companies such as Dlamini Multimedia Solutions, Uhuru Productions, The Production Works and Rainforest Productions where she worked on 260 episodes on a children’s program for DSTV. Her biggest accomplishment to date has been writing, editing and directing two 48 minute documentaries for SABC 1’S Human Rights, Back to Democracy strand.				Assistant to Producer/Director and Scriptwriter

					Zvikomborero Tangawamira (M Sc): Zvikomborero Tangawamira has worked on social-economic and tourism establishments in and around Kruger National Park. She is a researcher for FOP with an educational background in Conservation Ecology and Planning and Forestry and Wildlife Management with an emphasis on keystone species such as elephants. Her work revolves around GIS-based Land Use/Change Analysis, land-use planning, socio-economic studies, and community-based natural resource management and she has recently extended that research to include Cultural Landscape Mapping and climate change. She has worked in several World Heritage Sites, and is highly adept in interactive social networking tools where she has gained implementation experience involving thirteen African countries through a regional UNDP project.				Web/Multimedia

					Umaymah Jattiem (B Sc): Umaymah Jattiem has a Bachelor of Social Science degree in Environmental and Geographical Science, Sociology, and Gender Studies, from the University of Cape Town. She is a researcher for FOP and also involved in project proposals and management. She has theoretical and practical environmental skills and experience in environmental assessments and environmental management. She is involved in knowledge management and information sharing along both the east coasts and west coasts of the Africa continent, and has a strong passion for youth involvement in conservation.				Researcher

					Nolusizo Sitole (B Tech): Nolusizo Sitole has a National Diploma and a B-Tech degree in Environmental Management from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. She is a researcher for FOP and participates in proposal writing. She is involved in environmental desktop research, environmental assessment, and public participation. She is also involved in knowledge management and information sharing along the east and west coasts of the African continent. She has experience in working with communities and a keen interest in environmental education which she sees as a solution for the future.				Researcher

					Peet Joubert: 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.				Underwater cameraman Diving instructor Park manager

					Roger Dugmore: Roger is a professional guide with 14 years of experience in the Okavango Delta and the Kalahari Desert in Botswana. Roger is also a photographer and a film maker. He has filmed wildlife and environment in Botswana, Tanzania and Malawi. His photography has been exhibited in many national museums. Roger has an extensive experience in the African bush, with deep understanding of animal behaviour and ecological processes in the Okavango. He is the director of EcoAfrica Botswana an exclusive low-impact safari company. .				Photographer Video Cameraman Bush guide

Rean van der Merwe (M Sc):
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 neighbours.

Web/multimedia