On the Tonle Sap – Working as a Videographer for the EU’s #OurPlanet project

Biodiversity

After spending a wonderful Christmas and New Year with my family in France for the first time. Since COVID, it was great to kick off the year working as a videographer for the EU to direct, shoot and edit 6 videos to showcase their Our Tonle Sap project.

It was good to work on a series of campaign videos for a campaign as the videos could clearly follow the central tenets of the project.

The 6 videos I made were, an intro video to the visit and videos about how the Our Tonle Sap project supports biodiversity, climate, community, conservation and sustainability on the lake.

Since 2021, the EU-funded project 'Our Tonle Sap' has helped preserve biodiversity and support communities against environmental changes.

The Tonle Sap is a biodiversity hotspot. Home to over 700 animal species, Including fish, reptiles, birds and mammals.

H.E. Igor Dreismans. The EU ambassador to Cambodia, visited the lake to promote the Our Tonle Sap project.

‘Protecting the environment, protecting biodiversity, may be the biggest challenge our generation faces,’ he said.

The EU is actively involved in projects to conserve the lake's biodiversity.

Supporting the replanting of the flooded forest lost to fire, to ensure a climate resilient future.

Climate

Due to climate change, there are more fires in the flooded forests on the lake.

We interviewed, Mean Bunthong, a ranger on the Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary. ‘We've built 3 towers to monitor for forest fires,’ he said.

As well as monitoring for fires, rangers are planting saplings to restore the forest.

We spoke also spoke to Hou Kaylan, who trains the rangers. ‘We train rangers to plant saplings

to stop the fires from spreading,’ she said.

‘If there are enough trees, the biodiversity will be preserved,’ added Bunthong.

Community

There are 170 villages on the Tonle Sap with a population of 80,000 people.

Working with local partners, the EU has facilitated training for female entrepreneurs living on the lake.

Rouen Chantha an entrepreneur spoke to us about the training she’s received.

‘We received training on running a small business and processing fish products,’ she said.

‘Making prahok (fermented fish paste) makes me happy. I earn enough income to support my family.’

We also spoke to Rob Tizard a technical advisor working with Wildlife Conservation Society.

‘By working with the EU we're able to expand our activities to more communities, more activities hopefully have a greater impact on the lake’ he said.

Conservation

The EU works with local partners to support the Ministry of Environment in the development of the Prek Toal Ramsar Site

We spoke to Rob Tizaed about the conservation efforts that are being made as part of the project.

‘We protect the bird species, the bird populations have continued to rebound,’ he said.

Thanks to the EU funding, the protected bird sanctuaries bring income to communities through eco-tourism.

Stefan Messerer, German Ambassador to Cambodia, said, ‘We acknowledge Cambodia's

commitment to conservation. Let us work together and make this happen.’

Sustainability

The EU supports the Fisheries Administration in managing the Prek Toal Fish Conservation Are.

To protect the lake’s fish stocks, only small-scale, sustainable, community-based fishing is allowed in the conservation area.

We spoke to Duch Dam, a local fisherman. ‘The rangers make it easy for us to make a living. If they see illegal fishing activity, they stop it.

Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any videography projects you would like to discuss. You can see more examples of my videos for social media here.

On The Trail - Working as a Videographer for the EU

It was an action packed few days on the road working as a video following the press tour to promote the Cashew Value Chain in Cambodia for the European Union.

The press tour kicked off with a launch event at the Phnom Penh, before moving on to Kampong Thom, Kratie and Stung Treng.

The aim of the tour was to look at the available processing facilities, promote the value chain and to ultimately improve exports direct to Europe.

Our job was to get out front of the media scrum to film interviews and b-roll of the processing plants and cashew farms and then to film the press tour when all the journalists rolled in.

Journalists from over 30 media agencies attended the tour.

Supported by the EU and GIZ, the tour was led by H.E. Im Rachna, spokesperson of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

H.E. Im Rachana explained the reason for the press tour. ‘Our goal is to provide news coverage to Cambodians to promote the cashew nut value chain in Cambodia,’ she said.

Bryan Fornari, Head of Cooperaton at the European Delegation to Cambodia, spoke about the need potential benefits of promoting the cashew value chain.

‘The connection opportunities are there between one of the countries that produces most cashew nuts in the world and the largest market for cashew nuts,’ he said.

Bryan also spoke about the potential of expanding the cashew value chain in Cambodia.

‘The processing parts of the value chain is not here in Cambodia, and there’s a lot of potential to bring it to Cambodia,’ he said.

Over 95% of Cambodian cashews are exported raw and unprocessed.

Gunther Wessel, a GIZ programme manager and a cashew expert, also joined the tour.

‘There is more and more interest in Cambodia, but Cambodians, to start processing,’ he said.

If the cashew producers can adhere to EU standards it will give them access to the biggest market in the world.

Hopefully we see more investment in the cashew sector in Cambodia and growth in the number of direct sales to the EU.

You can see more my work with the EU here and read more of my blog posts here.

On Location as a Lighting Camera Operator and Sound Recordist for the European Union

With very short notice, I was called upon to work for the EU as a lighting camera operator and sound recordist on The Third Global Conference on Assistance to the Victims of Anti-Personnel Mines and Other Explosive Ordnance in a Disability Rights Context.

This was second job of part of a very productive relationship working as the lead videographer with Landel Mills to provide a range of video content for the EU delegation in Cambodia.

I lit the interviews with 2 x Aputure Storm 300D mkii LEDs and ran a Sony a7iv and a7siii to give us 2 angles. I was also using 3 x Sennheiser radio mics with a combination of the Sony XLR-K3M Dual-Channel Digital XLR Audio Adapter Kit and a Zoom h4n Pro sound recorder to give me 3 channels when interviewing 2 people.

Below are some of the behind-the-scenes images, kindly provided by Nick Sells who was covering the event as a photographer. Nick Ray was also interviewing people. It was great to work with Nick again, who as ever, came fully-prepared with engaging questions.

The event was presided over by H.E. Ly Thuch, First Vice President of the Cambodia Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority, H.E igor Driesmans, the EU Ambassador to Cambodia and H.R.H Prince Mired Raad Zeid Al Hussein of Jordan.

Funded by the EU and hosted by the Cambodia Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA) the conference promoted the end of suffering and new casualties caused by anti-personnel mines.

The video was well received and the EU commissioned a shorter version to be distributed on their social media channels.

In Novermber 2024, Cambodia will host the world host the Convention's Fifth Review Conference in Siem Reap, Cambodia from 25 to 29 November 2024.

You can see more examples of my work as a lighting camera operator here and here.

On Location in Stung Treng with UNICEF – NGO filmmaker on a case study

While filming an overview video for Generation Future, part of the assignment was to work as an NGO filmmaker to focus on Panha, a girl who joined the Code for Girls programme to work as a student volunteer. 

Code for Girls is a project for girls to to learn about coding and engineering, which are both STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) subjects. 

It’s important to encourage girls to participate in STEM subjects as they’re often seen as subjects more suited to boys.

‘Most of the time, girls’ parents don’t let them study STEM subjects,’ says Panha. 

‘After completing high school, I’d like to go to university. I’d like to study IT or engineering,’ she adds.

Panha has been interested in robotics since she was young and Code for Girls is a great opportunity for her to learn more.

‘I’ve been interested in this since I was 10. I found out about it on YouTube. There are so many things to watch,’ she says.

‘It’s predominantly men who make robots, but I think women can make them as well. If male students can study IT, why can't girls?’ she adds.

This has been a great opportunity to learn new skills.  

‘The most interesting part was drawing a 3D model on the computer. After creating our designs, we got to print them on a 3D printer.  I’m really happy, because I’ve never done anything like this before,’ she say.

Over the coming months, Panha will work with her project leaders and peers to train other students as part of the project. 

‘I’d like to be able to provide training for girls like me. to improve their skillset and for them to

understand how to put what I teach into practice,’ she says. 

‘I would like to encourage all girls to be confident in studying STEM subjects. They can be role models for the next generation of girls to look up to,’ she adds.

I look forward to catching up with Panha in a few months’ time, when we’ll be making a follow up video to see the progress she’s made and how she’s managed to train and empower other girls in her community.

You can read more about the other Generation Future video I made here.

Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you need an NGO filmmaker to work on any upcoming projects

On assignment as an NGO videographer for UNICEF in Stung Treng

I’d worked as an NGO videographer on a Generation Future video for UNICEF a couple of years ago, so it’s always good to get the call to come back and make a follow up video to show how the programme has progressed / evolved.  

We filmed the last video in Siem Reap Province. This time the location was Stung Treng Province with a focus on female empowerment and getting more girls involved in STEM subjects (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

 This area where girls are underrepresented. They can also face barriers when trying to study STEM subjects.

 Four Generation Future projects, Code for Girls, Cyclo Day, Meakea and RULErs, ran workshops to recruit and train 48 student volunteers from 4 schools in Stung Treng Province. All the groups featured female trainers and female student volunteers.

 ‘Code For Girls is a project that encourages girls to learn about coding and engineering,

which are both STEM subjects,’ says Sereny, the Code for Girls project leader.

 ‘We want them to use coding and 3D printing to come up with solutions to solve everyday problems,’ she adds.

‘I really enjoyed learning how to draw 2D and 3D models. I’ve never done this before,’ says Sovy, one of the student volunteers.

‘I've learnt a lot of new skills and gained a lot of new knowledge,’ she adds.

‘I’d like to see all Cambodian girls being confident and assured in the decisions they make,’ she concludes, which is a sentiment we can all agree with.

It was great working with the future generation of trainers and volunteers. Living in a country with such a young demographic, it’s essential that the younger generation, especially girls, learn leaderships skills and demand a voice in the decision-making process.

You can see the last video I made for Genreation Future here and more examples of my NGO videography work here.

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have an NGO videography you would like to discuss.