WEOFF: Creatures of Oz

From the mysterious creatures living in the deep ocean to the ghosts of the forests with a stop by Australia’s rarest bird of prey, this session will take you on a natural history adventure! 

Mysteries of the Twilight Zone (30min)

Directed by Leo Richards and produced by Logan Mock-Bunting

In the deep ocean, life is concentrated at chemosynthetic oases where primary production is made possible via chemosynthesis at cold seeps and deep sea hydrothermal vents. The non-chemosynthetic regions of the deep are divided into two very different worlds. First is the midwater, where pelagic wanderers tread migratory routes that span entire oceans, and planktonic drifters and their predators take part in bioluminescent light shows. It is separated into zones based on depth, including the sunlight zone (epipelagic), twilight zone (mesopelagic), midnight zone (bathypelagic), abyssal and hadal zones. And below, lies the deep sea floor. A kingdom of mud and ooze, where sessile creatures cling to any solid outcrop and corals craft kingdoms on the seamount crusts. The worlds of the deep sea could not be more different, and yet their stories are fundamentally intertwined. In this film, we delve into the Twilight Zone.

Tree Kangaroos - Ghosts of the Forest (50min)

Directed and produced by Geoff Spanner, and executive produced by Chris Fletcher

Tree Kangaroos: Ghosts of the Forest, mastered in 4K UHD, centres around a Lumholtz Tree Kangaroo joey and her mother from the time the joey looks out upon the world from her mother’s pouch until she leaves her mother as a fully developed tree kangaroo almost two years later. During that time, Mabi (her name comes from the First Nation name for them) faces several challenges and trials as she learns to find food, climb trees, hop along the ground, avoid predators and grow.

Her biggest challenge is when a new joey emerges from her mother’s pouch and Mabi starts to drift away from them to become an independent tree roo.

Mabi and her mother remain in the wet sclerophyll forest on the edge of the rainforest. Seldom seen, almost never heard and very rarely filmed in their natural environment, they are the ghosts of these forests. Tree kangaroos are however, one of Northern Australia’s most iconic species.

Red Goshawks: lifting the veil (10min)

Produced by Braydon Moloney

Join raptor research Chris MacColl on journey to Cape York, as he reveals new secrets about Australia’s rarest bird of prey.

An expert Q&A panel will follow this film session. The total run time will be 2h. 

To see our full program and detailed information please go to: https://wildearthoceania.com