Wild Arabia

Dear Friends,
I'm afraid a brief annual update is all I have time for at the moment but I hope you’re all well. Here in Bristol we’ve just finishing editing and polishing Frozen Planet. We’ll air the epic polar wildlife series on BBC1 in the UK this autumn, then on Discovery Channel early 2012. In the meantime I’ve begun working on my next project, a BBC/Animal Planet series exploring the natural history and culture of the Arabic Peninsula. ‘Wild Arabia’ will keep me sandy and camel-sore for the next 2 years and I’m already enjoying the change of temperature.
Have a great 2011!
Cheers,
Chadden

some video clips of recent adventures. Only viewable in the UK I'm sorry to say!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/expeditions/stories/published/by/chaddenhunter

LIFE on Discovery Channel

http://www.oregonlive.com/movies/index.ssf/2010/04/oregon_grebes_featured_on_new.html

Apologies again friends for this blog not really being a blog! I'll try to get some news up. The last 9 months have included sailing the Antarctic Seas to the remote island of South Georgia, tracking rare monkeys in southern India, filming wolves hunting bison in northern Canada and another sneaky visit to Morocco.

In the meantime, here's a link with a few recent adventures www.bbc.co.uk/expeditions/barrenlands

I'll be posting some more little stories to the BBC Out of the Wild website over the coming months. Stay tuned.

Happy adventures everyone!

Chadden

2008 update!

FROZEN PLANET

Okay, I confess, this blog has been long neglected! Since it was created in 2006 I've been busy. Travelling and film-making: Colombia, Japan, Pakistan, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Australia, Panama, Morocco, Peru, USA, France, Norway, Finland, and most recently Russia.

Lately:
you might have seen me dispensing pearls of wisdom in a PBS Nature Special 'What Women Want' (like I'm an expert in Black Magic!), which aired in the USA April 2008.

Going backwards:
2007 saw some adventures to one
of the remotest corners of the Amazon
(Peru & Columbia) to film rare monkeys and birds.

... spent the winter of 2006/07 deep in the Hindu Kush Himalaya on the Afghanistan/Pakistan border making a snow leopard film with the BBC. 'Snow Leopard: Beyond the Myth' just won 'Best of Festival' at the Missoula Wildlife Festival 2008!

2006 saw us neck deep in bat shit for the epic BBC/Discovery series 'Planet Earth'. Promised I've washed since then.


And 2008 brings me to my current gig as a Director on 'Frozen Planet'. A new BBC series aiming to be the ultimate portrayal of the Polar Regions. Polar bears and penguins here we come!

In fact, I just got back from the Russian Arctic where I was scuba diving under ice with beluga whales. About as much fun as you could ever have in iced water.

Look out for another update in ... hmmm .... 2012?!

Love and wishes,

Chadden

CV

To view his full CV as a Microsoft Word document please email chaddenhunter [at] gmail [dot] com

Chadden is currently full time with the BBC Natural History Unit, but always happy to help other individuals and productions if he can. He brings over 10 years experience in wildlife and natural history filmmaking, often in remote and challenging environments, and 15 years of biological studies and research. And knows a bit about a monkey or two.

SKILLS

Producer/Director
Series Producer for NGCI (Cliffhangers). Producer on Animal Planet series (Ms Adventure). Skilled Director on numerous challenging field based film projects. Organized complicated shoot logistics and responsible for staff and budgets of over $300,000. Dedicated to team success, able to handle responsibility, perform under pressure, think laterally, maintain morale, generate new ideas and see the ‘big picture’.

Camerawork

Directed and shot films shown on National Geographic Channel, Animal Planet and BBC. Shot footage on various formats and camera systems throughout Africa, Asia and the Americas. Still photography for BBC, National Geographic, ABC, newspaper and books. Camerawork includes HD (Vericams), Digi-beta, DVCAM, assistance to 35mm, time-lapse and Super 16mm cameras. Experience with Cable- and track dollys, jib arms, camera traps, remote cameras and aerials.

Wildlife Biologist / Scientific Consultant
World expert on Gelada Baboons (Theropithecus gelada). Rigorous scientist with a PhD in sexual selection and animal behavior. Able to self-motivate and maintain focus under extreme field conditions. Masters in bowerbird sexual selection. 4 years experience in marine biology, including extensive scuba diving research projects. Provided skilled insight into wildlife, history and anthropology for a range of professional media bodies. Flexible in adapting to a wide variety of audiences and media requirements.

Writer

Author of internationally published scientific papers, popular magazine articles, book chapters, documentary film scripts, web-site content and photo-captions. Able to write for TV, the Press or Academia in a wide range of voices and communicate complex ideas clearly to the layperson.

Presenter/Host
Host for National Geographic and BBC series, PBS Specials presenter of films for VOX channel, Germany and 60 Minutes. Natural and engaging presenter in the role of expert, adventurer or adaptable host. Comfortable in interviews on TV or radio, seminar speaking, following set scripts or ad-libbing. Can impart energy, humour or sincerity in getting a clear message across.

PROFRESSIONAL FILM EXPERIENCE

National Geographic Society
2006 - Hunter & Hunted: Kidnapped (NG Television & Film)
2005 - ‘Cliffhangers’ gelada baboons (NGCI 3 x 1hr)
2004 - Taboo (Series 3) NG Channel
2003 - Camera assistant to Michael Nichols (NGM Staff Photographer)
2002-2003 - http://www.nationalgeographic.com/
2001-2002 - ‘Kings of the Hill’ NG Magazine (Nov. 2002 issue)
2001 - Gelada ‘Explorer’ NGT & F pitch

BBC Natural History Unit
2008 - Frozen Planet (Director)
2007 - LIFE: Primates, Birds (Director)
2007 - Natural World – Snow Leopards: Beyond the Myth (Camera)
2006 - Planet Earth – Caves (Borneo)
2005 - Planet Earth – Mountains (Glaciers, Alps, Ethiopia)
2004 - Planet Earth – Deserts (Sahara)
2002-2003 - Nile: In Search of the Flood
2001-2002 - Life of Mammals (Sir David Attenborough)
2002 - ‘Cousins’ (Charlotte Uhlenbroek)
2001 - Wild Africa – Mountains & Coasts
1998 - Gelada Baboon Diaries

Other Film & Television Experience
2007 - PBS ‘Nature’ Special: What Women Want
2007 - 60 Minutes ‘Monkeys in the Mist'. Climate change in Africa
2006 - BBC Radio 4- Planet Earth Under Threat
2006 - ‘Ms Adventure’ Animal Planet/Discovery 13 x 1hr (Producer, writer)
2003 - Tierzeit, Prime-time VOX,
2003 - Ethiopian Television, Radio and newspapers Interview guest on TV talk shows, radio, newspapers and magazines as public figure promoting conservation causes within Ethiopia
1999 - Triumphs of Life, Green Umbrella, Discovery
1997 - Battles of Braveheart, Green Umbrella Productions

RELEVANT NON-MEDIA EXPERIENCE
1997-2001 - Resident Biological Expert Simien Mountains National Park, Ethiopia
1997-2001 - Visiting Researcher Addis Ababa University, Biology Department. Supervisor of 3 Masters students
1993-1995 - Research Assistant to Coral Reef marine biology research projects involving scuba diving, Great Barrier Reef, QLD, Australia
1994-1995 - Teaching Assistant Tutor for undergraduate field and laboratory courses; zoology, botany, marine biology, ecology, parasitology, evolution
1992 - Researcher Marine Turtle Rookery, Mon Repot, QLD, Australia

PULICATIONS
2007 - International Primates Protection League: The Gelada Monkeys of Ethiopa
2006 - Planet Earth: The Future Chief contributor to chapters: ‘The Threat and the Threatened’, ‘Growing Population on a Limited earth’, ‘Wilderness and Climate Change’, Where has Environmentalism gone Wrong’.
2006 - Melbourne Age Magazine article ‘Expats’.
2000 - ‘Braveheart on the Edge’ BBC Wildlife Magazine, feature article. September issue.
1997 - Hunter & Dwyer. (1997). The value of objects to satin bowerbirds (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus)
Emu Journal of Ornithology 97(3) : 200-206.

EDUCATION
1996 – 2001- PhD. University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK. Thesis Title: ‘Ecological Determinants of Gelada Ranging Patterns (Theropithecus gelada)’
1994 – 1995 - Honors (First Class) University of Queensland, QLD, Australia. Thesis Title: ‘Behavioral Ecology of Satin Bowerbirds (Ptilonorynchus violaceus)’
1991 – 1993 - BSc. Zoology Department. University of Queensland, QLD, Australia

Miscellaneous
· Competent Amharic (Ethiopian) Language
· Advanced Open Water PADI Scuba Diver, Specialities: Dry-suit and Ice-Diver
· Full (clean) international Drivers License
· Knowledge of first aid, rope safety work, standard safety practices on boats, mountains, caves, glaciers
· Sponsored by Canon, Oakley, Mountain Hardware, Black Diamond
· 2005 Recipient Michael Brinkman fellowship endowment award from the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival http://www.jhfestival.org/

REFERENCES available upon request

ABOUT CHADDEN

Chadden was born in the Australian desert and grew up traveling the world. He went to school in the USA and Iran before returning to Australia and falling in love with the rainforests and Great Barrier Reef of Northern Queensland. After a Bachelor of Science in Zoology at the University of Queensland, he worked as a research scuba diver, then studied rainforest bowerbirds to gain a First Class honors degree in Behavioral Ecology. A keen interest in the social behavior of mammals lead him into the African wilderness looking for beasts with bigger brains.

Primates became the new passion as Chadden began his PhD based at the University of Liverpool in the UK. His subject was the gelada baboon and a long term field study lead to 3 years living with gelada in the remote Simien Mountains of northern Ethiopia. He survived a major war, armed bandits and brain parasites before Sir David Attenborough visited with a film crew. Since completing his PhD, Chadden has been a Scientific Consultant, Presenter and Producer on a number of major natural history films.


Chadden now focuses on media and conservation and maintains his passion for both Ethiopia and his beloved gelada. Recent projects include the National Geographic series Cliffhangers, about Chadden and his life with the monkeys, and work on the epic BBC series Planet Earth.