‘Exploring the Mother of Waters’
“An adventure and environmental awareness film like no other’
Through the experiences of adventurer Mick O’Shea, viewers become part of an exciting, visually stunning and educational adventure journey to and through one of the world’s most amazing regions. From extreme life and death drama to experiences of friendship, fascination and compassion ‘Exploring the Mother of Waters’ is a documentary film that carefully balances cutting edge adventure exploration with an effective educational and at times touching awareness building agenda.
Known throughout much of it’s basin by local peoples as ‘Mae Nam Khong’ which, in English means ‘Kong, Mother of Waters’, the Mekong Basin, is one of the worlds most diverse natural and cultural environments and until the making of this film significant portions of the rivers mainstream remained neither navigated, explored or filmed at ground level. ‘Exploring the Mother of Waters’ uses the historic first full exploration of the river by Mick O’Shea from the source in Tibet to the South China as a medium through which to expose the natural and cultural wonders of the region and some of the more pressing issues that threaten it’s future.
The Mekong River system is the most productive inland fishery on our planet and it possesses the third greatest plant and animal diversity on earth after the Amazon and Nile basins. Tens of millions of impoverished and vulnerable subsistence peoples from six nations currently depend on the rivers natural bounty for their survival resources however dam builders in China are in the process of effectively cutting the river near it’s mid way point by constructing a series of mega dams that will flood around 13% of the rivers entire length and forever compromise the ‘Mother of Waters’ ability to deliver the water, silt and fisheries upon which millions of people and a myriad of environments depend. With a construction budget of over 10 billion dollars, some 15 years after construction began not one dollar has been allocated towards compensating the immense losses faced by the subsistence peoples down stream of the dams.
In order to become the first person in history to travel along it’s entire course, and to understand the impacts of the mega dam cascade on the rivers peoples and environments, Mick O’Shea overcomes extreme altitude and snow storms at over 4500 meters above sea level, navigates hundreds of kilometres of previously unexplored gorges, ravines and treacherous white water and paddles into the lives of the Mekong’s subsistence peoples from dozens of cultural realms over the course of 145 days. ‘Exploring the Mother of Waters’ exposes some of the most significant environmental and human rights issues of our time and for anyone with an interest in our planets natural and cultural heritage, cutting edge adventure or human rights, this is a film is not to be missed.
Three stages of the Mekong Journey Photos: Stanislas Fradelizi and Hutch Brown for MFDP
About Mick O’Shea
Producer Co Director and Screen Writer of ‘Exploring The Mother of Waters’
‘Mick’s documentary style is a fascinating mix, something between David Suzuki and Steve Irwin’
Sunday Times Newspaper Australia 2006
Mick O’Shea was born into the outback regions of Western Australia growing up with a strong attachment to nature and a natural yearning for genuine adventure experiences. From the age of 20 Mick walked away from a short lived but successful career in the gold mining industry and real estate development to spent most of the next 5 years travelling the world extensively on the fruits of his labour while undertaking expeditions throughout the back country of Asia, ranging from Pakistan to Borneo. Mick is a veteran of over 20 exploratory river expeditions into previously uncharted waters and he recently completed the first full exploration and navigation in history of the Mekong Rivers mainstream from source to sea, a 4909 kilometre man powered journey over the course of 142 days. Mick played an instrumental role in the discovery of some of the worlds largest previously uncharted cave systems in Laos with several Guinness book of records titles currently pending. He has been engaged in the field of adventure/eco-tourism and documentary film production in the regions of South East Asia for the past 6 years.
Mick was responsible for developing the river based tourism component of the award winning Nam Ha eco-tourism project in cooperation with UNESCO and the Lao Government. It was while living and working specifically with the peoples of the Mekong throughout the past 6 years that Mick became aware of the Mekong Cascade hydropower scheme and the environmental and social toll the scheme will extract from the Mekong dependent peoples and their environments.
As a man of action, Mick’s concern prompted him to establish the ‘Mekong First Descent Foundation’ www.mekongdescentfoundation.org an organization dedicated to creating greater awareness and concern for the peoples and environments of the Mekong basin and protecting their survival resource rights. His passions include exploration, writing, playing guitar and learning about the world.
Micks Book ‘In the Naga’s Wake’ based around his historic exploration of the Mekong river mainstream has been published by Allen and Unwin publishers for international distribution and will be on shelves from October 2006 and his latest work, ‘Exploring the Mother of Waters’, is expected to make a significant international splash on behalf of the
threatened Mekong subsistence peoples and their environments. The film finished post production in August 2006.
Filmography:
Mick has been working casually within the field of environmental and adventure film production for more than 5 years. Mick fulfilled the role of presenter, ‘fixer’ and or logistics expert on 5 films shot in Asia between 2000 and 2004 including:
1) ‘Night Spots of Asia’, Noodle Box Productions for Discovery Channel Asia
2) ‘Tiger Tracking in Laos’ for the Xplore Series by Big Red Barn Productions commissioned by the Canadian Broadcasting Association.
3) ‘Players’ A fully Independent Extreme Kayaking film by 20 / 20 productions shot on several continents.
4) ‘Destination Laos’ for Paddler TV in Association with Sam Drevo Productions
5) ‘Jehova’s Wetness’ Extreme Sports Video a fully independent film with Alex Nicks.
Mick has Produced and Directed (or Co Directed) several short documentary and promotional films throughout Asia including:
The Mekong’ A 7 minute promotional video filmed in 3 nations designed specifically for raising funds and awareness for the ‘Mekong First Descent Project’. The production values of the film were considered sufficient to secure the full support of the Pacific Asia Travel Association and Mick was awarded with US$8,000.00 of free display space at the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Travel Mart International Exhibition Bangkok 2004 to display the film to thousands of attendees from dozens of nations around the world.
Walking on the Wildside: A 10 minute adventure film shot in Laos and Thailand to promote the emerging adventure travel and recreational adventure sports scene that is emerging within the regions of South East Asia. Walking on the Wildside has been aired by Lao and Thai national televisions.
The Dammed Mother: A fully independent 15 minute critically acclaimed film shot in the nations of Tibet, China, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam exposing the threat posed to the Mekong rivers peoples and environments from a series of mega dams that are currently under construction in China.
‘Exploring the Mother of Waters’ Is a fully independent 43.5 minutes film that represents Mick’s most significant work to date. The film was shot throughout six Asian nations including some of the most restricted and remote regions on earth over the course of over 200 days. The film is available on Digital Betacam, DVD (all regions) and Mini DV Pro.
Three stages of the Mekong Journey Photos: Stanislas Fradelizi and Hutch Brown for MFDP
Note: ‘Exploring the Mother of Waters’ can be purchased from the Mekong Descent Foundation for US$16.00 per copy plus postage and handling. For more information please contact us at: info@mekongdescentfoundation.org
About Brian Eustis
Co Director and Director of Cinematography of ‘Exploring the Mother of Waters’
Brian Eustis hails from Maine USA and was Co Director and Director of Cinematography for the Exploring the Mother of Waters. Brian has participated in multiple international exploratory expeditions on 3 continents spanning from Tibet to Costa Rica and is a passionate white water kayaker who’s favourite pass time is exploring and filming remote and exotic regions. Brian thrives professionally in the type of challenging wilderness locations that would send most directors scrambling for a hotel and has been working in the adventure film production field for 4 years. His most recent documentary contributions include:
Filmography:
‘The Players series’: Second camera on Nate Nash Produced extreme kayaking films
’Nam Fa’ Second camera on Big Red Barn produced Tiger Tracking Documentary
‘The Dammed Mother’ Co Director and director of Cinematography of a short film on the issues facing the Mekong River.
Exploring the Mother of Waters: Co-Director and Director of Cinematography on the first source to sea exploration of the Mekong River.
Brian’s passions include travel, cinematography, photography and white water kayaking and if you would like to track him down you had best start somewhere that’s naturally beautiful with plenty of white water!
‘Exploring the Mother of Waters’
A film by Exploremore Productions
Film Rights: Broadcast rights to the film are 100% owned by Co Directors Michael O’Shea and Brian Eustis. Contact mickomail@yahoo.com for further details.
Film Duration: The film was designed for a 1hr commercial TV time slot with a run time of 44.5 minutes.
Formats: The film is available in Digital Beta Cam, NTSC DVD 0 Region, PAL DVD, and Mini DV Pro formats. A 1 minute screener and a 15 minute condensed version of the film are available upon request.
Shoot Locations: The film was shot in 7 nations including Tibet, China, Laos, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Mick O’Shea on the Tibetan Plateau with the Mekong First Descent Project April 2004 Photo: Stanislas Fradelizi for MFDP
