NEW HD PROGRAMS FEATURING
5-TIME EMMY AWARD WINNER AL GIDDINGS
“His camerawork flows beautifully
alongside the sea life
as though he were a fish himself.” --Film Monthly
“We should all be so lucky to have
the life of one Al Giddings” -Newsday
“Now… this pioneering underwater
director-producer-cinematographer
shares his stories and footage” –
Associated Press
Is anyone watching Under the Sea with
Al Giddings right now?
Wow, it's awesome and on PBS.
I am taping DVRing it right now so I
can watch it again.
--Blog entry on Scuba Diving Forums
and Discussions Board
FOUR HOURS OF UNDERWATER BRILLIANCE
Four hours of programming are now available for global audiences, featuring the
remarkable film & video archive of undersea director/cinematographer Al Giddings:
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UNDER THE SEA WITH AL GIDDINGS. A
public television special that profiles the career of Al
Giddings. Promotional information can be sourced at:
www.wliw.org/algiddings 40 min & 60 min versions
VISIONS OF THE SEA. A public television special
that explores the story of the oceans with 5-time Emmy
Award Winner Al Giddings imagery. 60 minutes
UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY. Two hours of
short vignettes, which provide a hypnotic adventure of
ocean imagery. 2 x 60 minutes
The Michelangelo of the Sea
He taught Jacqueline Bisset, Sean Connery, and Kim
Bassinger how to scuba dive…
He negotiated with Fidel Castro for permission to
explore the scientific potentials of Cuba’s Caribbean
waters…
He descended 12,500 feet underwater to capture early
images of the Titanic shipwreck using Russian Mir
submersibles, and co-produced the Fox blockbuster
with James Cameron…
He holds the Guinness Book World’s Record for
“Longest Breath Hold Underwater” (11 minutes, 40
seconds)…
He has invented new technologies for underwater
filmmaking, has fought with Great White Sharks, and
has been witness to the discovery of new
chemosynthetic life forms on an expedition with
oceanographer Bob Ballard…
He is a legendary global original force of nature: an
adventurer, an engineer, and a gifted artist who has
logged more hours underwater than any human on
earth and who is known in natural history as “The
Michelangelo of the Sea.”
This is the remarkable world of Al Giddings, and
we’ve had the great privilege to work with Al and his
outstanding archive of underwater motion pictures to
develop and produce a new series of programming
specials.
These programs showcase the best work of the world’s most accomplished underwater
filmmaker, and include:
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Most stunning, early images of the Titanic captured on an expedition with Dr. Anatoly
Sagalevitch and the Russian Mir Submarine.
Footage from Al’s work in Hollywood films, THE DEEP, THE ABYSS, and THE TITANIC,
including behind-the-scenes footage with Al and James Cameron.
Footage of Al’s negotiations with Fidel Castro to explore Cuba’s underwater treasures.
Footage of botanist Dr. Sylvia Earl’s record-holding solo, un-tethered “deep dive” (1250 feet).
First images of newly discovered life forms that use hydrothermal heat and chemistry from “hot
water vents” on the ocean floor to develop and survive (a “chemosynthesis” process discovered
on this expedition). This was the 20th century’s greatest scientific discovery.
New interviews with Sylvia Earle (National Geographic Explorer in Residence), Peter Guber
(Hollywood studio executive and film producer), Dr. Shirley Pomponi (CEO of Harbor Branch
Oceanographic Institute) and Dr. Richard Luntz (Rutgers University)
Footage of Al’s close-up work with Hammerhead and Great White Sharks, including stories of
his heroics involving shark attacks
Intimate underwater photography of Humpback whales with their young, and audio recordings
of their songs, transmitted nearly 4000 miles in the sea.
Brilliantly shot imagery of tropical locations such as Tahiti, Maui and Palau, and rare footage of
startlingly color species, many of which are now endangered.
DISTRIBUTION OPPORTUNITIES
Underwritten by funds from PBS and public television viewers,
these completed programs are a co-production of GW Intertainment
and WLIW New York, and are cleared for all markets, territories,
and media platforms. UNDER THE SEA WITH AL GIDDINGS
premiered at the Academy Theater in Hollywood in May of 2008,
and has been broadcast as a nation-wide public television special.
VISIONS OF THE SEA is scheduled for a public television
broadcast in 2009. The UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY
vignettes have been produced and made available to public
television viewers in a specially designed DVD boxed set.
The programs are available for distribution in the
following markets:
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Terrestrial & Cable TV (outside USA)
DVD Distribution (global)
Broadband and Internet Platforms (global)
Educational Video (global)
CO-PRODUCTION OPPORTUNITIES
Al Giddings controls an archive with nearly forty
years of underwater motion imagery. In addition to
the completed programming, we can also provide
rights to adapt and excerpt from the programs, to
create new associated programs appropriate for
individual markets and media, and to extend the
programming slate with new short-form or long-form
programming.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Copies of the programming are available, and will be provided on
request to interested distribution entities. For more information
regarding these programs, please contact either:
Matthew White
GW Intertainment LLC
10407 Sweetbriar Parkway
Silver Spring, MD 20903
USA
310-408-1910
[email protected]
Gillian Rose
WLIW New York Public Television
450 West 33rd Street
New York, NY 10001
212-560-6921
USA
[email protected]