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Our Film
Mauritius. Now well known for its white sand beaches and luxury hotels, it was originally an uninhabited volcanic island in the Indian Ocean, isolated and remote. Undiscovered and uninhabited until relatively recently (16th and 17th centuries, respectively) it was, and still is, home to an abundance of endemic flora and fauna, as well as a unique blend of land and seascape. Now home to a culturally diverse population of 1.3 million people, agriculture, exploitation of resources and other human activities have taken their toll and continue to exert high pressures on the natural landscape. Today less than 2% of the island's native forest still remains.
We've been inspired by those parts of Mauritius that still remain wild and untouched, and we want to take you there and show you what we've been privileged to experience already. Our aim is to showcase the unique beauty of flora, fauna, and landscape
that remain today, as through the eyes of the initial discovery of the
island, when it was a veritable Eden. Just nature, nothing else.
We’re also going to shoot Mauritius in a way that, as far as we are aware of, has not been done before, certainly not this extensively. We're going to get into the nitty gritty, get our hands dirty, and our feet wet. Some of the most beautiful parts of the island are also inaccessible to
the general public, or difficult to access and we intend to share these with fellow Mauritians
as well as a worldwide audience.
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Although documentaries have been made on Mauritius, we have not found
one that we feel captures the full majesty of nature or answers the many
questions we have about its natural history. We hope not only to
inspire awe, but to transmit a certain reverence and perspective for
this microcosm, in pursuit of a balance between the needs of the human
population and our ecosystem, whose interests and fate are ultimately
the same.
Mystic Mauritius (working title) is currently estimated to be 45 to 60 minutes. Different vignettes will include geological formation, mountain ranges, the different coastal habitats and marine environments, coral reefs, offshore islets, hidden streams and waterfalls, rivers, mangroves, and profiles of endemic plants and animals.
Ultimately we intend to sell the finished film on the local market, submit it to film festivals, and shop it to television channels.
Who We Are
Two Amaurican (Mauritian-American) brothers, we grew up studying in the States but coming back to Mauritius every year. We moved to Mauritius in 2011, Damien residing here permanently since then, and Alexis spending extensive time here despite continuing his nomadic tendencies. Our different and unique skill-sets complement each other well: Damien with the film making expertise and Alexis with a wildlife conservation and nature photography background as well as a diverse musical skill-set. We're excited to work together and combine our talents!
You can read more about us on our profile pages.
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What We Need
We're already fortunate enough to live on this magical island (so no need for lengthy, expensive flights and a larger carbon footprint), and we've already accumulated the majority of our necessary production equipment for the film and are dedicating the majority of our time and energy. But we still need your help to make this film the best it can be!
We need your help raising funds for the following:
- Permits - Certain government owned locations and government managed nature reserves require we pay for shooting and having staff accompany
us around.
- Digital Storage; Hard drive space and back up. As you can imagine we're gathering high volumes of footage and would like to continue to do so at the highest possible quality, often raw video format. It adds up quick and we need tons of space!
- 3rd party input/ Visual FX: Knowing our limits: We have a VFX supervisor lined up to work with us for
high quality visual effects on select shots to show what the island
looked like prior to development. We also would like to pay for mastering of the
soundtrack, and in depth maps and animations of geological events.
- Narration: We're going to produce this film in both English, French, and Mauritian Kreol, and if funds allow, German, Italian, Spanish and Chinese as well!
- Transport; Gas is incredibly expensive on this island and it adds up
quickly. We're using a car, boats, a motorcycle, and kayaks.
- Additional Equipment; A few things here and there; a new GoPro, for example, and a few accessories.
- Stock footage: of things we probably won't be able to film ourselves; an active volcano for instance.
- DVD Production; Printing and Packaging
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IF WE EXCEED OUR GOAL: Our priorities are to invest the money into better and more animation/VFX, expand locations to include more of neighboring Rodrigues (island to the east) and other offshore islands of Mauritius such as Agalega, St. Brandon, etc.
What You'll Get
The satisfaction of helping out starving artists? A glimpse into a fantastic , remote island? A good film? All of the above!
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