Shoot for the Sky Premier

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Two award winning photographers flew themselves over one of the oldest rainforests in the world with nothing more than their cameras, a paracute, and a giant fan all strapped to their backs. Cede Jesus Prudente, 47, and Jonathan Tan, 27, were using paramotors to survey the Bornean landscape, allowing them to capture breathtaking aerial photographs of the island. Watch as they seek to document Borneo's natural landscape on the Biography Channel. The programme premiers on 25th February 2012.

Press Release:
SHOOT FOR THE SKY Premieres 25 February, Saturday at 9pm
‘Shoot for the Sky’ follows the journey of 2 photographers, Jonathan Tan and Cede Prudente, on their journey to photograph one of the world’s oldest tropical rainforest from the air.
Cede, 47, is an award winning professional photographer, conservationist and author of 6 books, who was born in Lahad Datu, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Based in Sandakan on Sabah’s east coast, he lives in one of the world’s most diverse and exciting environments. With Borneo as his home, he is ideally situated to document every aspect of this remarkable natural world and to introduce it to others.
Jonathan, 27, is the other photographer who has won acclaim for his landscape photography.
“Capturing the image is my passion, a lifelong dream. Through my photography I hope to capture images of Borneo, before the Borneo I know, disappears forever. I wish for people
to see Borneo in a different light, in the confines of their homes, and appreciate the diversity of the island and all that it has to offer.” said Jonathan Tan.
Now, they will attempt to photograph Sabah from the air. Their primary mission – to photograph stunning, never before documented visuals from the air and at the same time, discover more about this island by visiting remote villages that are hardly accessible by other means of travel.
The locations they have chosen includes mangroves on Sandakan coastline, Semporna Islands, the reefs and home of the sea gypsies and Mount Kinabalu, and the highest peak between The Himalayas and Papua New Guinea.
If they succeed, their photographs will be stunning, if not priceless.
To do this, they first have to learn how to fly. See how they master the skills of flying the paramotor. Then follow them on their breathtaking adventure.
As Cede and Jonathan travel via the paramotor, their unique aircrafts will offer viewers an extraordinary vantage point from which to appreciate the beauty of Borneo’s tropical rainforest. With very limited flying experience, their journey has been a bumpy one. Up against constantly changing weather patterns, mechanical failures and tricky terrain, will they succeed in flying to the peak?
All of this is combined with as much danger and excitement you would expect from an adventurer flying off into the unknown.
This will be a landmark event – an adventure never before documented in the splendor of High Definition. Join Jonathan and Cede on a journey of a lifetime.

Encore Details
26 February, Saturday, 11am
27 February, Sunday, 10pm
4 March, Sunday, 7pm

TALENT’S BIOGRAPHY


Main Talent
Cede Jesus Prudente, 47, is an award winning professional photographer, conservationist and author of 6 books, who was born in Lahad Datu, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Based in Sandakan on Sabah’s east coast, he lives in one of the world’s most diverse and exciting environments. With Borneo as his home, he is ideally situated to document every aspect of this remarkable natural world and to introduce it to others.


Main Talent
Jonathan Tan, 27, is a landscape photographer who has won acclaim for his landscape photography. He believes that spectacular sights are thoroughly wasted when not cherished or remembered. Most of his budding years were spent studying in Australia where he was able to explore the great island’s landscapes with trips to panoramic sites. The need to convey his feelings and emotions from his three dimensional journeys on prints and canvases is what he believes to be the role of every photographer. Jonathan is based in Sandakan, Sabah with two galleries, showcasing his work in Sandakan and Kota Kinabalu.


Trainer
James Matthews Irving Gibss, 48, born in Sydney, Australia with mechanical engineering background. He is the Director of Air Venture - developed a successful sports aviation training business. He is responsible for all aspects of this business including sales, marketing and training. Over six years, he grew this business consistently creating a significant customer base throughout Malaysia and SE Asia. Activities within Air Venture also include aerial photography/video as well.
Flying Enthusiast
Pavel Brezina, 45, born in Czech Republic, is the two times paramotor world champion with extensive flying experience. He has done nearly 2800 hours of flying and still counting. Owner of Nirvana Systems, develops and manufactures its own paramotors and are being distributed to many countries around the world.

PRODUCTION INFORMATION
Executive Producer, AETN All Asia Networks
Chris Humphrey is a British born TV producer based in Singapore. After working for a BBC magazine in London, Chris taught English and music to secondary school students in and around his home town of Cambridge UK. It was after working as a travel writer that Chris came to Singapore in 1998 and set up his own production company. He has produced for Discovery Channel and National Geographic Channel before joining AETN All Asia Networks as Executive Producer in 2008, following 10 years of television production

Director
Julian Shori is a documentary Director, Executive Producer, Cinematographer, Director of Photography and TV journalist. He was involved in several documentaries, TV commercials and news programs for local TV as well as corporations. With strong educational background, Julian developed many training programs to train Cameramen, Producers, Soundmen and editors from Asia-Pacific countries how to produce TV documentaries. As Executive Producer, he recently produced ‘Sacred & Secret’, a feature length documentary that looks at how the Balinese’s beliefs and occult ceremonies of these long bygone times have survived so well and ‘Thaipusam’, a documentary witnessed two Hindu devotees’ fulfilling their vows during one of the most interesting Hindu festivals in the world.
Julian founded GS Productions in 1996, started from a one-man operation with no facilities to a company with full production capability ranging from underwater shoots with mini-DV to aerial shoot to High Definition and a complete Post-production capability for the most taxing of programs that is feature films.

Producer
Valerie Lew has over 15 years of experience in the film and TV industry. She spent 7 years with NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) assisting the bureau chief in news reporting from the Asian region. She has been involved in documentaries for the National Geographic Channel, Discovery Channel, NHK (Japan) & NZZ Television (Switzerland). Her recent involvement in “Fight Master-Silat” produced by GS Productions for the National Geographic Channel was awarded "Best Cultural Documentary" at the Malaysian Documentary Awards 2010. “Thaipusam” recently showed on Discovery Channel and on other broadcasting in Canada, Taiwan, etc. Her most recent credit includes ‘Sacred & Secret’, a feature length documentary that looks at how the Balinese’s beliefs and occult ceremonies of these long bygone times have survived so well.
Her other recent credits include: “Is Singapore the better Switzerland?”, “süss und salzig,sauer und scharf die thai küche”, “spa-Quella des Wohlbefindens” (NZZ Switzerland), “On the Run” (Discovery Channel, Canada) and many more. She is also the general manager and founding member of GS Productions.

Editor
Rasidan Muhamad Ramly has extensive experiences in editing documentaries, TV programs, Telemovies and dramas. Started his career as animator in 1993, he has worked his way to senior editor in one of the largest TV program production house in Malaysia, Grand Brilliance. Rasidan has also directed several documentaries, TV programs and corporate video. His credit includes, ‘Romantika ISA’, a documentary that has won the first prize at Freedom Film Festival in 2005, ‘Halal World’, magazine program for NTV7, ‘Pepatih’, a documentary for RTM, Malaysia and etc.

About GS Productions Sdn Bhd.
GS Productions started in 1996 by Julian Shori and Valerie Lew. Veterans of the industry, they saw the need in the market for a highly trained, high quality HD production company. GS was started to fill that gap. Since then the company has built a strong reputation in the Asia Pacific region for its high quality productions and has had the good fortune of working on a wide variety of subject matter from dramatic films to full feature length documentaries.
Offering a full range of services from Pre-Production all the way through to Post, GS has worked with a wide range of clients and in a wide range of capacities. GS specializes in HD and is proud to be one of the pioneers of HD cinematography in Malaysia.

About HISTORY™
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