The Film Makers
Production Company – Crossing the Line Films
Crossing the Line Films is an award-winning television production company specialising in adventure, nature, travel and historical documentaries. The company was originally founded in 1993 to document the first successful Irish expedition to Mount Everest and has since gone on to produce some of the best selling Irish-made documentaries of recent years. Crossing the Line has filmed in over 60 countries and in some of the highest, most remote and breathtaking locations on Earth. The extreme lengths they go to in making these films have been rewarded with numerous nominations, prizes and awards from some of the world's most prestigious film and television festivals. In the last number of years their films have won prizes at Banff, Graz, Tegernsee Film Festival, Film Festival della Lessinia, Best Documentary series at the 2003 & 2007 Irish Film and Television Awards and both the Best Documentary Series and Spirit of the Festival Awards at the International Celtic Film Festival.
The company has also branched into the realm of music film-making with a six part series on songwriting for RTÉ – This Note's For You – and most recently a bespoke concert filmed in New York's Greenwich village – "Liam Clancy & Friends: Live at the Bitter End".
Crossing the Line Films have had their productions broadcast worldwide in over 80 different countries on RTÉ, TG4, Discovery UK & Europe, Discovery USA, BBC, Channel 5, ARD, Travel, PBS, WGBH, History Channel, Odyssey, Adventure One, Sky, Planete, Voyage and many others.
Producer/Director - John Murray
In the last fourteen years, John Murray has directed over 30 films for some of the world's leading broadcasters and has won numerous national and international awards. He has also produced 70 other films with leading Irish and international directors.
John is managing director of Crossing the Line Films & Productions, one of Ireland's leading factual producers for the international market. Specialising in documentaries that bring viewers to the remotest corners of the Earth, CTL were the first Irish documentary production company to move into HD. Working with a wide range of Irish and international broadcasters, their films have broadcast in over 150 countries.
John graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a degree in Zoology before joining RTÉ as a presenter and reporter on nine different series of science, environmental and health programmes. He was co-author of Lonely Planet's first "Ireland, Travel Survival Kit". In 1991 he made his first film chronicling the first Irish expedition to attempt an 8000 metre Himalayan peak and since then has made films on Everest, the North Pole, through the Northwest Passage, across Siberia and the Sahara amongst many other locations and still likes to shoot and direct whenever he gets the chance.
Director - Colin Stafford-Johnson
Colin Stafford-Johnson specialises in Wildlife Documentary making and over the last ten years has been involved in some of the most highly acclaimed wildlife productions in the world. Most recently, his credits have included the BBC Planet Earth series and award winning Mississippi – Tales of the Last River Rat. Many of his films have focused on big cats in particular and he has spent almost 600 days filming tigers in India. Colin's work has taken him all over the world and seen him work in varying environments, from mountains, to deserts to rainforests. Colin currently presents Living the Wildlife for RTÉ, a series which takes him across Ireland in search of all sorts of wildlife and a few characters that share his passion for nature.
In the past Colin has worked mostly on Super 16mm but now increasingly he shoots on High Definition.
Editor – Emer Reynolds
Award winning film editor Emer Reynolds' feature credits include The Eclipse, Small Engine Repair, Timbuktu, The Actors and I Went Down, her television credits include Shameless and Funland and her documentary credits include Broken Tail, Today is Better than Two Tomorrows and The Road 2. She has also written and directed her own work, and sits as a member of the advisory board for the National Film School (Ireland). In 1997 she received the Craft Award from Women in Film and Television, for excellence in the practice of her craft. She is currently editing Paul Fraser's My Brothers for treasure entertainment.
Production Co-ordinator India - Salim Ali
Salim Ali began began working in Ranthambhore National Park as a driver back in 1989. Having grown up on the doorstep of the park and inheriting his love and interest for nature from his father who was also a driver in the park, Salims knowledge and talent as a tiger tracker were soon recognized. Over the years that followed, Salim earned himself the recognition as the top Guide in Ranthambhore National Park and was soon in demand amongst visitors, photographers and film makers.
In 1999 Salim first started working on Colin Stafford Johnson’s first tiger film, Tiger Fortress for the BBC. Proving himself invaluable, Salim was then employed to work on the second of the BBCs films made in Ranthambhore – Danger in Tiger Paradise – this time as a driver, guide and sound recordist. From this point Salim has worked on every tiger documentary ever made in Ranthambhore and also traveled to other parks such as Pench and Panna to work on other tiger and wildlife documentaries. With Colin, Salim spent 600 days in Ranthambhore National Park following one tiger family.
Cepa Giblin
Cepa joined Crossing the Line Films in 2005 as Researcher on their highly successful series Wild Trials and she is now researching and developing new ideas for future projects with special emphasis on wildlife and environmental subjects. She recently spent almost a year in India working on the company's tiger conservation film Broken Tail while also Producing Wild Journeys a major 3 hour wildlife series on animal migration. Cepa's interests have always been in nature, wildlife and conservation and after graduating from NUI Galway with an honours degree in Environmental Science, she worked on Wild Ireland, Ireland's first wildlife and environmental magazine. She has also worked in Glenveagh National Park with the Irish National Parks & Wildlife Service and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.
Siobhán Ward
Siobhán has been with Crossing the Line Films since 2004 working her way from production assistant and runner through to production manager overseeing all CTLF productions. Siobhán has worked on over 20 different productions for RTÉ, TG4, Arte, ZDF, National Geographic, History Channel and many others. Her producer credits include short films Swing Talking & If These Walls Could Talk and feature documentary Today is better than two tomorrows.
