Documentaries                                      Countries - Animals - Environment

In April 2024, Indigenous leaders across the Pacific made a historic declaration: whales are not resources, but living beings with rights. Under the He Whakaputanga Moana treaty, they are recognized as legal persons—ancestors, sentient life, and guardians of the ocean’s balance.

In the icy wilderness of Antarctica, where the ocean is as dark as it is unforgiving, an extraordinary encounter unfolds between humans and one of the Southern Ocean’s most enigmatic predators—the leopard seal.

 About The Reproduction of MANTA RAYS. A film with unique Footage of copulating Manta Rays

What you always wanted to know about Sex - Manta Sex!

You ever ask yourself how fish, sharks and rays have sex? How they reproduce and how it looks like?

This short documentary gives some answers and images which explain specifically how Manta Rays have Sex. The captured stock footage for this film is uniqe and was never before and until now (to my knowledge), filmed in wildlife.

Palau is one of the best dive sites in the world. Famous is the German Channel where you can observe manta Rays in cleaning stations and also feeding. To observe the mantas being cleand works best with scuba diving gear, while observing them feeding in my opinion works best while snorkeling and freediving. We used the expertise of Sam's Tours and their instructor Sharon.



In the Polynesian Triangle " moana" is the word for ocean. You and me, we are people. We have certain rights, human rights. Not so the world around us, animals and nature are considered as "things" which we "people" can use and exploit. Even if we push it to the extreme and endanger our own existance on this planet. In April 2024 the Maori people of Hawaii, New Zealand, Tahiti and the Cook Islands signed a treaty, in which they grand personhood to whales and dolphins. Here is what a whale has to say about it.

Yap Day a cultural highlight in the land of stone money. The island of Yap is located in the western Pacific and belongs to the Micronesian Federation. In the land of the stone money you can still get the old cultural customs and practices. An absolute highlight of the year is the Yap Day. At the beginning of March, the inhabitants of the various villages meet for a dance and song contest.
SHARKSCHOOL goes freediving. The shark-human interaction researcher Erich Ritter and the freediver Christian Redl meet on the island of Grand Cay to develop new concepts of the human shark encounter for freedivers and shark lovers. The experiences and findings were processed in the book "Free diving with sharks - encounters in one breath".
Oceans Emotions is an ode to the oceans and the life in them. A Poem - a Poem, spoken by Marcel Steuermann. Everything in this world has its place and every creature takes it according to its abilities and the role it was meant to play. Feel connected!
"In the realm of the deep" with the Belgian freediver Fred Buyle, is a 5-part documentary in which I was allowed to support the cameraman Christian Petron (In the intoxication of the depth - The Big Blue). Not without some pride I can say that all photos with Fred and the whales were captured by me. Because of adverse weather conditions we had practically only three hours in the water with the whales. In these short times these wonderful pictures of Fred and the whales have been created.
A short making of another production with Christian Petron and friends from Rangiroa in the Tuamotu archipelago. There is a group here - a pod of dolphins - bottlenose dolphins that have been living there for many years all year round. At that time, I worked freelance with the dive center of Yves Lefevre, the Raie Manta Club.
Sebastien Murat (Seb the Sub) is a freelancer with a special technique. Before he dives, he breathes up to half of his lung capacity (exhale diving). For him, this has several advantages, or circumvents it with this technique is problems that freedivers who push into extreme depths have to ask. Seb explains his technique in this film and why he uses it. In another interview, Sabastien explains the mammalian diving reflex, which is still active in humans and how the apnea divers take advantage of it.
Cry for Love - some call her Lola, another Touch Me. She is a female dolphin that lives in a group of bottlenose dolphins in the waters around Rangiroa Atoll in French Polynesia. Lola has begun to allow physical human contact, leading to a veritable hysteria in the island's dive centers. But why do we always have to touch and own everything? Some questions to ask if you want to meet wild animals.
The Sky is the limit - fly with blue sharks and the freediver Christian Redl through the cloud-covered depths of the Atlantic. Rather an experimental film than a documentary, but still - or that's why an award-winning film?!?
Emotions in Blue - again an award-winning short film, which is really only about the beauty of nature. A whale dance to the music of Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D Major, recorded by Kevin MacLeod. Mixed with the original songs of humpback whales.