WILD JOURNEYS
3 x 52 mins wildlife series
High Definition

In this series we set off on a journey of discovery following some of the incredible migrations which animals make each year from our shores. From Bluefin tuna to Arctic terns or Leatherback turtles and Freshwater eels, each film will follow some of Ireland's most extraordinary travellers to the other end of the world… and back. The series will also explore the science behind these great migrations and look at how Irish scientists are teaming up with other scientists from around the world to try and shed light on these extraordinary journeys.

ACROSS THE HIMALAYA
2 x 52 mins, 1 x 70 mins documentary
High Definition

This film follows a family of Buddhist yak herders on a breathtaking journey across the roof of the world. Each year after wintering high on the Nepalese-Tibetan border, the Dolpo-pa load their yaks with salt and set off over some of the highest mountain passes in the world. After a gruelling three-month journey across breathtaking but treacherous terrain, they reach the lowland valleys of Southern Nepal. Here they have just a few short weeks to sell their salt and load their beasts with grain before setting off once again for the high peaks of the Himalaya.

WILD WILD SHOW
6 x 25 mins wildlife series
High Definition

All over Ireland tag and release programmes are in operation contributing vital information for the research, conservation and protection of some of Ireland's most fascinating and endangered species. From Humpback Whales to Lesser Horseshoe Bats and Golden Eagles to the Edible Crab, Ireland's Universities, Research Centres and Conservation Groups are catching, tagging, ringing or radio collaring thousands of animals before releasing them back into the wild and seeing what happens next. This up close and hands on wildlife series will look at some of the most exciting tag and release projects currently taking place in Ireland and will follow up on the progress of the tagged animals in the wild.

SACRED SUMMITS
(6 x 52 mins)
High Definition

In this series six internationally renowned writers and climbers set out around the planet to six of the world's most sacred and beautiful mountains. Climbing ever higher above the clouds, each writer is on a personal journey of discovery, exploring the myths, legends and spirituality forever associated with mountains and high places.

THREE MEN AND A POLE
(3 x 52 mins)

The definitive story of Scott, Shackleton and Admunsen, of their trials and tribulations in the Antarctic, of their obsession with the South Pole and of their all-consuming rivalry in the race for the last great prize in exploration.

IN FIDEL WE TRUST
(1 x 90 mins and 1 x 52 mins)

With unprecedented access to Fidel and his entourage this film will be an intimate behind the scenes portrait of Fidel Castro and the workings of his inner circle.

ACROSS THE ROOF OF RUSSIA -
THE NORTHEAST PASSAGE
1 x 70 mins, 1 x 54 mins for RTE & History Canada

Adventure/history documentary telling the story of the infamous NorthEast Passage, one of the most challenging maritime journeys in the world. Following the adventures of an Irish crew as they attempt to sail their boat 'Northabout' from the notorious Bering Straits through the NorthEast Passage to Galway on the west coast of Ireland.

THIS NOTES FOR YOU -
SONGWRITERS AND THE SONGS THEY WRITE
6 x 25 mins series for RTE
High Definition/Digibeta

Presented by broadcaster and musician Tom Dunne, this series will go behind the stars and razzmatazz to explore with songwriters their experiences of writing and producing songs, hits that changed their lives or duds that never graced a radio wave. The series will explore the origins of their best-known work - how the idea or the melody came about, how the most unpromising tune suddenly clicked into place and turned a tuneless dirge into something people hum every day in the streets.
The series will also delve into the mechanics of pop, rock and roll. It will reveal some of the secrets of popular song writing, exposing the business and the technical skill and hours of work necessary for success and also how often the elusive elements of luck and coincidence come into play.

FRANKLIN'S LOST EXPEDITION
1 x 90 mins, 1 x 47 mins, 2 x 52 mins for TG4, Five UK, ZDF, ARTE, Irish Film Board
High Definition

One of the greatest stories in polar exploration and one of the greatest mysteries in maritime history that spawn the greatest manhunt ever mounted… this is the story of the Northwest Passage and of Sir John Franklin's lost expedition. A key part of this story is a major international initiative to find one of the world's most important shipwrecks under the ice of the Canadian Arctic. Directed by Emmy-Award winner Peter Bate (King Leopold's Congo, Station X) and shot over two years in the Arctic on High Definition, this film is a major international co-production involving Irish, UK, Australian, German and Canadian broadcasters with support from Media and Irish Film Board.

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WHITE MAN, DEAD HEART /
CRAICEAN GEAL, CROÍ MARBH
4 x 25 mins series for TG4 & BCI
High Definition

Galway-man Robert O'Hara Burke was the first white man to cross Australia. He died on his return journey in remarkable and tragic circumstances. His story is one of the truly outstanding dramas from the Great Age of Exploration and exemplifies in so many ways the extraordinary experiences of 19th century Irish emigrants. This is not a travel series. It is living history - a journey on the trail of an Irish man whose life reveals much of the Irish experience in Australia, their and our attitudes to opportunity, adventure and race issues. Racism is central to Burke's story and ultimately he died because he could not come to terms with the aborigines and their survival skills, regarding these remarkable people with scorn and contempt.

THE LEGEND OF LIAM CLANCY
2 x 52 mins, 1 x 70 mins Funders - RTE, Irish Film Board , Crossing the Line Films
High Definition

Liam Clancy is an icon. Irish people, thousands of whom pack out every concert he plays, believe they know where Liam has come from, and what he's about….they don't know the half of it. The Legend of Liam Clancy unveils the darker side of the man hailed by Bob Dylan as the greatest ballad singer of all time. Directed by acclaimed film-maker Alan Gilsenan, this biographical film reveals the true Liam Clancy and was a landmark programme in RTE's Arts Lives series.

WILD TRIALS SERIES III

Become a wildlife photographer for a week, that's the challenge facing seven Irish personalities who travel to some of the remotest corners of Ireland to track down and photograph wild and often elusive Irish animals. This third series sees rugby pundit and broadcaster George Hook off to Glenveagh National Park to photograph the magnificent Golden Eagles, singer Johnny Logan goes camping on the islands of Donegal in search of badgers, Newsman Charlie Bird is on the tracks of wild mink on Galway's Lough Corrib, TV Presenter Shauna Lowry chases fallow deer bucks up the mountains in the rutting season, Actress Rosaleen Linehan is up all night getting pictures of elusive barn owls, Retired politician and bookmaker Ivan Yates spends a week cruising the Shannon photographing dragonflies and actress Sheila McWade is driven nuts trying to photograph very nifty and agile red squirrels.
The best photograph sees the winner travel to Yellowstone National Park to photograph wolves in the wild.

EXPLORER: A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING

This documentary follows a team of Irish and international scientists as they head out 300 miles into the North Atlantic on a pioneering mission to survey the dark and mysterious world of the deep oceans. Its mid-February and the Irish research vessel the Celtic Explorer battles in mountainous seas to the outer edges of the continental slope, where weird and unknown creatures live at depths of over 1000 metres. The expedition attempts a first for Irish science, launching a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) to a depth of over 1000 meters to shed light for the first time on seabed which has lain unmapped and unchanged for thousands of years. The images from the ROV are astounding and reveal an immense and multicoloured coral reef lying in the cold and dark depths of the mid-Atlantic. The deep sea is one of the last great unknowns on the planet and this is truly cutting edge science… this deep water coral reef may be supporting hundreds if not thousands of species completely new to science.

BEZAD'S LAST JOURNEY
Nominated for Best Irish Language series in the 2005 Irish Film and Television Awards and best feature Documentary at 2006 Celtic Film Award.

A film of one of the greatest nomadic journeys left on earth. The Qashqua'i are native Iranian nomadic herders who spend their lives on a gruelling migration across the Zagros mountains. With unprecedented access to one of the world's most insular and secretive countries, this film follows Bezad, a charismatic & highly articulate Qashqa'i shepard on his spectacular 500km migration across the mountains of Iran.

WILD TRAILS SERIES II
Nominated for Best Entertainment series in the 2005 Irish Film and Television Awards.

The second wildlife/photographic series for RTE in which each week a different well-known Irish personality is set the challenge of photographing an Irish animal in the wild. This series sees TV Presenter Liz Bonnin wreck-diving off the North coast of Antrim in search of conger eels, Senator David Norris is put to the test photographing Dublin's urban foxes, Kathryn Thomas goes snorkling around Achill island to swim with the world's second largest fish, the basking shark, singer/songwriter Mickey Harte goes climbing around the sea-cliffs of Co. Kerry to try and get near to Ireland's largest seabird colony, the gannet colony of the Skelligs and finally actress and singer Bronagh Gallagher is camping out in Clew bay to photograph one of Ireland's most elusive mammals, the otter. For the winner the prize of a lifetime is a trip to central India and the chance to photograph some of the last wild tigers in the world.

NORTHWEST PASSAGE:
ON FRANKLIN'S TRAIL
Winner at Banff Mountain Film Festival, Nov 2003.

A spectacular journey through the Arctic, as an Irish expedition shadows one of most tragic stories in polar history... the extraordinary Franklin expedition which sailed into the Arctic in search of a Northwest Passage and disappeared without a trace.

LAST CHANCE JOURNEYS:
SAHARA

A magnificent journey along the most traditional camel caravan route left in the Sahara, an 800 mile trek across Niger. This one-hour film follows Al Haj Alhassan, an old Tuareg caravaneer on his last journey across the Sahara, travelling one of the last remaining desert trade routes in West Africa: the salt run of Bilma.

WILD TRIALS SERIES I

Become a wildlife photographer for a week, that's the challenge facing five well-known personalities.
This series sees actor Don Wicherley camping on the windswept islands of County Mayo to photograph grey seal pups in mid-November, Politician Conor Lenihan is stalking the majestic red deer of Killarney National Park during the rutting season, Radio DJ and broadcaster Ray D'Arcy spends a week at sea off the south coast of Ireland photographing the world's second largest whale, the fin whale, TV presenter and actress Carrie Crowley spends many late nights in the Burren pursuing the elusive pine marten and finally Climber & Explorer Pat Falvey is hanging out in the caves and souterrains of Kerry to photograph bats in flight.
The final programme sees the winner off on the trip of a lifetime to Rwanda where they have one week to photograph some of the last wild mountain gorillas in the world.

THE GHOST OF ROGER CASEMENT
Winner of the Best Documentary series in the 2003 Irish Film and Television Awards and winner of Best Feature Documentary at the 2003 Celtic Film and Television Festival.

Roger Casement served the British Government, was knighted, turned Irish rebel and was executed all within the space of just ten years. His life and reputation was destroyed by a set of homosexually explicit diaries which many claim are British forgeries. This film tells Casement's extraordinary story and features the only modern forensic investigation of the 'Black Diaries', which was co-funded by Crossing the Line Films.

ANTARCTICA'S FORGOTTEN HERO
TOM CREAN
Winner of the Best Adventure Film award at the 2003 Graz Film Festival.

One hour documentary on one of the most indestructible heroes in the history of Antarctic exploration. Crean's astonishing life story is told using a wealth of photographic and film archive and interviews with family members and leading polar historians, including Reinhold Messner and Ranulph Fiennes.

LAST CHANCE JOURNEYS:
SIBERIA
Winner of the Spirit of the Festival Award at the 2003 Celtic Film Festival.

This film follows the Serrotettas, a family of Nenet reindeer herders of Northern Siberia, on what is undoubtedly the greatest nomadic migration left on earth - a gruelling 1600 mile journey across the tundra to the shores of the Arctic Ocean. Shot over four months in northern Siberian this film gives rare insight into a difficult and ancient way of life now on the verge of extinction.

THE STRANGE CASE OF THE IRISH CROWN JEWELS
Nominated for best documentary in the 2004 Irish Film and Television Awards.

Stolen from Dublin castle in 1907, just two days before a visit to Ireland by King Edward VII, this is one of the most mysterious unsolved jewel heists of the early 20th century - and one which threatened to unleash an extraordinary gay scandal involving Ernest Shackleton's brother Frank and the British royal family.

SCOTT AND SHACKLETON -
RIVALS FOR THE POLE
Nominated for the Best Documentary in the 2003 Irish Film and Television Awards.

This is the "behind the scenes" story of the two greatest figures of polar exploration - Robert Falcon Scott & Ernest Shackleton. "Rivals For The Pole" digs deep into the bitter rivalry which existed between these two fascinating personalities and explores the jealousies, intrigue and adventure that marked the final chapter in the great age of exploration. marked the final chapter in the great age of exploration.

THE SEMINARY
Nominated for Best Documentary in the 2002 Emmy Awards.

This one hour documentary follows the personal stories of three young men through a year in Ireland's largest seminary, St Patrick's College, Maynooth.

TURAS FEASA

Setting out on foot through some of the remoter recesses of Ireland, author and climber Dermot Somers goes on the trail of seven journeys from ancient Irish history and mythology.

ACROSS THE LINE 2:
ALASKA TO ARGENTINA

Alaska to Argentina was the challenge that attracted over 14000 Irish & British applicants - to rough it on £20 a day through 15 countries and feature in an 8 part television series about their journey.

WILD IRELAND / BEALACH Ó DHEAS

Filmed through an Irish summer, this six part walking series follows author and climber Dermot Somers on a 400 mile journey from Ireland's northernmost tip, Malin Head, to its southernmost tip, Mizen Head, taking in the finest scenery in the country along the way.

ESCAPE FROM ANTARCTICA

This absorbing film tells the story of one of the most famous chapters in the history of exploration, as recreated by a team of Irish adventurers who retraced Shackleton's epic journey from Antarctica's Elephant Island to South Georgia.

ABOVE THE CLOUDS
Winner of the Best Documentary in the 1998 Celtic Film Festival.

Award-winning six part series of world mountaineering challenges set on the Eiger, Mt Kenya and in Nepal, Yosemite, Scotland and Peru. Each programme sees writer and Everest climber Dermot Somers taking a different guest climbing in some of the world's most stunning mountain wilderness.

ACROSS THE LINE:
DUBLIN TO DARWIN

Eight part travel series following two members of the public travelling overland from Dublin to Australia on a budget of $30 a day.

EVEREST,
THE NORTHERN EDGE

A remarkable one-hour documentary on the successful ascent of the formidable and seldom climbed north-east ridge of Mount Everest by an Irish team in the Spring of 1993. .

MANASLU, SUMMIT OF SOUL 1 x 52 min

Film of the very first Irish expedition to one of the world's highest peaks Manaslu.