PRODUCTIONS

Check out some of my previous films below. I worked as director, editor and camera op (unless otherwise stated in the description).

EFG HERMES - BUILDING COMMUNITIES IN RURAL EGYPT ​

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I worked on this project as second camera operator and editor. 

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The director and I travelled to Cairo and El Deir in rural Egypt to film the social responsibility projects of EFG Hermes, a financial institution. It's also a glimpse into the everyday life of people 800 km South of Cairo. For me, that's the part that really makes it interesting. 

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It was published on Forbes.com as well as on Business-Reporter.co.uk.

REBUILDING MY CITY

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He had to flee his country but he has never forgotten his mission to revive it from the ruins. Hadi Soufan, a young Syrian architect has a special attachment to Homs, his beloved hometown that suffered horribly during the civil war. 

After receiving death threats for his civic work in the wake of the war, he came to Germany where he founded an organisation to crowdfund the resources for the city's revival.

We met him in Berlin at the very beginning of his journey.

TURNING THE TIDE: HOW SMALL BUSINESS REINVENTED THE SEASIDE

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For years, some of Britain's most traditional seaside towns suffered the worst economic blows and the poorest press in the country. But now, all that is changing. An auspicious mix of national funding and local ingenuity is turning some of our traditional seaside resorts into hotbeds of small business and entrepreneurship. 

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Commissioned by Business Reporter for their Small Business online magazine, this short doc looks at some of the businesses and initiatives that turned the doldrums into a sea of opportunity. 

SEEDBANKERS: INSIDE ONE OF THE BIGGEST SEED BANKS OF THE WORLD 

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If all goes to plan, we will sort out climate change and save the planet along with the myriad of plant species upon which our survival depends. But that is not how things are looking right now. With the average extinction rate a THOUSAND (!) times higher than in pre-industrial times, we have to bank on our knowledge of storing seeds. 

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People at the Millennium Seedbank in Wakehurst, UK, are preparing us for a day when we need to wake the wild cousins of our everyday cash crops from their frozen slumber so we can sow and harvest and feed the world again. 

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As much as I loved making this short, I am so very hopeful that Plan A can still work though.

THE MUSIC STOPS HERE

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Manchester, the birthplace of Oasis, The Smiths, Joy Division and other legendary bands, is living a property rush - and the victims could be the very places that made the city a hotbed for musicians: the indie venues. The Star and Garter, one of the last truly indie venues in the city is battling for survival as two government-owned companies are set to expand a train station and regenerate the area. Can indie music and passionate fans save this iconic place from being bought for pennies, closed for music and sold for profit?

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We worked on this film with a number of collaborators for about 2 years. We screened the work-in-progress version to packed houses in Manchester, raised £2,500 to pay for music rights and provoked a lively debate about the fate of indie venues. The film is in competition for Best Documentary Short at MANIFF in Manchester. It has also been screened (or is set to be screened) at festivals in the U.S., Australia, Bulgaria and Kenya. Here is the trailer.

MANCHESTER STREET ANGELS ​

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Manchester's nightlife is exciting, raucous and dangerous. In this TV documentary we follow the spirited volunteers on their Friday night patrol. Lesson: know your limits and don't get your nose smashed.

IMAGINATION

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How do authors of children's books engage their young readers? How do you write a fairy tale about depression? How do you spell a snore? Made at the Doc In A Day competition in London in October 2016, this sketch of vivid colours pays an endearing tribute to limitless imagination.

BOUND​

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A man in picturesque Ruthin, North Wales, plies a unique trade: bespoke book binding. One of the last traditional bookbinders in the UK, Paul turns music, leather and his peculiar sadness into art. Art that frames words yet defies their descriptive power.

GOOD AS NEW: REMANUFACTURING IN THE UK​

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Forget recycling for a moment and imagine a future where an old chair becomes a new chair instead of being shredded down to pulp fibre. Welcome to remanufacturing, the process that gives old products a new lease of life. If it can save Britain billions a year, why isn't this method more widespread? 

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In my first industrial documentary (written and directed for Business Reporter) we travel across the UK to see what truly sustainable industry looks like.

YOUR COLOUR PERCEPTION (BY ARTIST LIZ WEST)​

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What's it like to walk in pure colour? Surely, attending Liz West's Your Colour Perception came closest to walking on a rainbow. It offered a great chance to contemplate my inner true colours and to film others as they did the same. This package was made for That's Manchester Television. To video purists: if you want true white balance and skin tones here, you won't get it. 

THE SQUATTERS OF 10 CHARLOTTE STREET

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In the midst of an ongoing housing- and homelessness crisis, a group of squatters broke into an empty palace in Manchester's 10 Charlotte Street. I took my camera and talked to the trespassing activists, the homeless and some simple benefactors at the place. 

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A version of this package appeared in BBC Digital Nation, a compilation of best local reporting, in the summer of 2015. 

URBAN FORAGING GUIDE

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You don't always need Greggs or Nandoes to find lunch in the concrete jungle. Just follow the lead of David, the Alan Titchmarsh of urban edible flora on his daily harvesting round in Greater Manchester. Japanese rose petal liquor anyone?

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This magazine-show style package was so popular that David became a regular guest on That's Manchester's Friday afternoon news show as an expert of seasonal urban munchies.

MANCHESTER SPACE PROGRAMME: A NEAR-SPACE EXPERIENCE​

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A group of space enthusiasts and their families head to the hills of Cheshire to launch a device into near-space. Will their experiment succeed? A glimpse into the world of hobby space missions with a pinch of irony (rather than salt).