Date: July 2014
Location: Canada
Distributor: Al Jazeera English (July 2014) – 24 min.
Credits: directed, filmed & edited by Claudio von Planta
Reporter: Juliana Ruhfus

THE PEOPLE SMUGGLERS is an investigation into the tough application of Canada’s immigration laws and asks whether it is justified.
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Date: July – October 2013
Location: UK, Kenya
Client: William Hill Plc
Credits: filmed, directed and produced by Claudio von Planta
online edit by Paul Jackson

PROJECT AFRICA is a brilliant development initiative where the HR department of William Hill combines the team building of employees with the development of a very poor school in a remote corner of Kenya.
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Date: December 2012
Location: Kosovo, Turkey, Israel
Distributor: Al Jazeera English (December 2012) – 24 min.
Credits: directed, filmed & edited by Claudio von Planta
Reporter: Juliana Ruhfus

THE ORGAN TRADERS is an investigation into illegal human organ trading in Kosovo, Turkey and Israel, and the challenges facing law enforcers.
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Date: October 2011
Location: Tanzania
Distributor: Al Jazeera English (December 2011) – 24 min.
Credits: directed, filmed & edited by Claudio von Planta
Additional Cameraman: Peter Murimi
Undercover Reporter: Anas Aremeyaw Anas
Executive Producer: Ron McCullagh of Insight News TV
 
Winner of 2012 One World Media Award for Children’s Rights
Nomination for a 2012 RTS Award for Independents
 
SPELL OF THE ALBINO is a very disturbing investigation into the witchcraft driven albino body parts trade in Tanzania.
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Date: November 2011
Location: Rwanda, UK, USA, Mexico
Distributor: RTV, Tele10, Sky, VOD – 64 min.
Credits: directed, filmed & produced by Claudio von Planta
Additional Cameraman: Jonathan Richards
Editor: Julia Frater
Reporter: Sorious Samura
 
Winner of Hillywood Silverback Award
 

RWANDA-17 Healing a Nation follows the first ever Rwandan footballers who qualified to compete at a World Cup. Their success inspires hope for reconciliation after the 1994 genocide.
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Date: October 2011
Location: Maldives
Distributor: YouTube, www.sixsenses.com
Credits: directed & filmed by Claudio von Planta
Editor: Paul Jackson
 
WATER-WO-MEN was an event organised by Six Senses Resorts to promote Marine and Water conservation with experts from all around the world.
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Date: September 2011
Location: Canada, Israel, India
Distributor: YouTube, www.youth-business.org
Credits: directed, filmed and edited by Claudio von Planta
 
This playlist shows the three finalists of the Youth Business International Entrepreneur Awards 2011.
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Date: January 2011
Location: Alaska to Argentina
Distributor: BBC World News (January 2011) – 8 x 23 min.
Credits: directed, filmed & produced by Claudio von Planta
Additional cameramen: Paul Jackson, Kevin Augello, Jonathan Richards
Editors: Julia Frater, Paul Jackson, Robert Alexander, Jonathan Richards

RACING GREEN is a 8 x 23min BBC World News TV series about 8 Imperial College engineering graduates from London who built the first electric car in history that succeeded to drive the 26,000 km long Pan-American Highway from Alaska to Argentina – it’s a world record and proofs that electric vehicles are ready to replace petrol cars.
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Date: May 2010
Location: UK, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, Portugal, Spain
Distributor: Internet, Social Media, YouTube – 13 x 5 minutes
Credits: Director/Cameraman – Claudio von Planta
2nd Cameraman – Robert Alexander
Editors – Paul Jackson, Olivia Baldwin, Julia Frater
Advertising Agency: Grey
 

Date: January 2010
Location: Tanzania + Zambia
Distributor: BBC 4 UK (28 April 2010) – 52 min.
Credits: directed and filmed by Sean Langan
2nd cameraman – Claudio von Planta
Production Company – Renegade Pictures
 
AFRICAN RAILWAY is a leisurely, wryly amusing documentary in which award-winning Sean Langan rides the ramshackle rails of the vast Tazara Express, Africa’s so-called freedom railway linking Zambia’s copper belt to Tanzania and, eventually, and significantly, to China.
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Date: September 2009
Location: Australia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan, Japan
Distributor: BBC, National Geographic etc. – 6×60 min.
Credits: directed and filmed by Claudio von Planta
Co-director and producer – Sam Simon
2nd cameraman – Robin Shek
Editors – Julia Frater, Paul Jackson, John Walker, Mike Clark-Hall, David Aitkinson
Production Company – Big Earth
 
BY ANY MEANS is a 6×60 minutes BBC adventure series with Charley Boorman traveling from Sydney to Tokyo. He looks at different forms of transport, wins insights into many cultures and discovers little known corners of the world.
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Date: February 2009
Location: Afghanistan
Distributor: Channel 4 UK (12 July 2009) – 46 min.
Credits: directed and filmed by Claudio von Planta
Co-director and 2nd cameraman – Jim Foster
Editor – Olivia Baldwin / Production Company – Darlow Smithons Productions
 
COMMANDO CHAPLAINS offers an insight into the work of two Royal Navy chaplains who look after British troops in Helmand, Afghanistan. They spend most of their time at the frontline where soldiers are facing death and injuries on a regular basis.
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Date: November 2008
Location: Nigeria, Sri Lanka, India
Distributor: YouTube, www.youth-business.org
Credits: directed, filmed and edited by Claudio von Planta
 
This playlist shows the three finalists of the Youth Business International Entrepreneur Awards 2008.
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Date: March 2008
Location: UK to Sierra Leone
Distributor: DVD
Credits: filmed, directed and partly edited by Claudio von Planta
Editors: Julia Frater and Sebastian Smith / Graphics: Jonathan Richards
Composers: Barrie Bignold and Miko Giedroyc

HULL FREEDOM TRAIL follows 24 people from Hull in the UK who embarked on an anti-slavery campaign. They drove five 4×4 vehicles to Sierra Leone where they donated the trucks to humanitarian organizations that focus on anti-trafficking.
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Date: February 2008
Location: Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Ghana
Distributor: Terrestrial TV in the UK
Credits: directed, filmed and edited by Claudio von Planta
 
The advertising agency Publicis hired me to direct, shoot and edit 9 television adverts of 30 and 40 seconds length.
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Date: June 2007
Location: UK to South Africa
Distributor: BBC, National Geographic etc. – 8×45 min.
Credits: directed, filmed and partly edited by Claudio von Planta (on 3rd motorbike)
Producers Directors: David Alexanian + Russ Malkin
DOP with support crew 1: Jim Foster / DOP for the preparation + support crew 2: Jimmy Simak
Editors: Julia Frater, Paul Jackson
 
LONG WAY DOWN was my second epic motorbike expedition with Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman. I already filmed their first TV series Long Way Round from London to New York. This time we drove from Scotland across Europe and Africa to Cape Town.
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Date: April 2007
Location: UK and Iraq
Distributor: Channel 4 News UK (8 May 2007)
Credits: directed, filmed and edited by Claudio von Planta
 
This is an investigation into the forced repatriation of Iraqi Kurds who failed to obtain asylum in Britain.
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Date: March 2007
Location: Iraq
Distributor: Channel 4 News UK (8 May 2007)
Credits: directed, filmed and edited by Claudio von Planta
Presented by Karzan Sherabayani
 
With Karzan Sherabayani’s connections in Irak we managed to hook up with a group of Kurdish PKK fighters near the border with Iran.
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Date: February 2007
Location: Iraq
Distributor: Chanel 4 News (8 March 2007)
Credits: filmed and co-directed by Claudio von Planta
Presenter and Co-director – Karzan Sherabayani
 
This rather comical report captures a glimpse of the Kurdish alcohol smuggling operation into the Islamic Republic of Iran.
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Date: November 2006
Location: Congo Brazzaville, Sudan, El-Salvador, Philippines
Distributor: International Committee of the Red Cross
Credits: filmed, directed and produced by Claudio von Planta
2nd Cameraman and Reporter: Karzan Sherabayani
Interviewer: Juan Martinez – ICRC Staff
 

WORDS OF WARRIORS is a 30 minute educational film where combatants of irregular armed conflicts talk about their perception of the Geneva Conventions.
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Date: October 2006
Location: Sierra Leone, Congo DRC, USA
Distributor: CNN International (2+3 March 2007) – 52 min.
Credits: filmed and directed by Claudio von Planta
Presenter: Sorious Samura
Producer: Elisabeth Jones / Editor: Richard Guard
Executive Producer: Ron McCullagh Insight News TV
 
BLOOD ON THE STONE is a Sorious Samura investigation into the certification process of today’s diamond trade. This 52 minute documentary is published as a bonus feature on Warner Brother’s DVD of Blood Diamond where Leonardo DiCaprio is starring as a ruthless diamond dealer during Sierra Leone’s civil war in the 90s.
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Date: August 2006
Location: Iraq
Distributor: Al-Jazeera International – 22 min.
Credits: filmed and directed by Claudio von Planta
Producer and Reporter: Karzan Sherabayani
 
THE THIN BLUE LINE is a 22 min. report on the police in Kirkuk at the frontline of Iraq’s civil war.
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Date: April 2006
Location: Nepal
Distributor: British Army Website
Credits: directed, filmed and edited by Claudio von Planta
Co-Director/Cameraman: Simon Atkins
Website Architects: True Clarity
 
Winner of Campaign Digital Awards for Best Digital Campaign of 2006

 
EVERST EXPEDITION is a series of 30 podcasts for a British Army website. The videos show the experiences of 8 junior soldiers during a Himalayan expedition in Nepal.
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Date: February 2006
Location: Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
Distributor: Sky One (22 May 2006) – 46 min.
Credits: filmed and directed by Claudio von Planta
Reporter and Producer – Sam Kiley / Co-Director and Producer – Jim Foster
Production Company – Carbon HQ
 
GUNS FOR HIRE – CONGO DRC is my second documentary about ex-military personel who work for PMCs, private military companies.
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Date: December 2005
Location: Malawi
Distributor: BBC News and Internet
Credits: directed, filmed and partly edited by Claudio von Planta
 
UNICEF and the BBC hired me to film an HIV/Aids fact finding tour in Malawi with actor and UNICEF ambassador Ewan McGregor.
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Date: November 2005
Location: Afghanistan
Distributor: Sky One (15 May 2006) – 46 min.
Credits: directed and filmed by Claudio von Planta
Reporter and Producer – Sam Kiley / Co-Director and Producer – Jim Foster
Editor – Olivia Baldwin / Production Company – Carbon HQ
 
GUNS FOR HIRE – AFGHANISTAN is a highly topical 46 min. documentary about the secretive world of private military companies.
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Date: August 2005
Location: Jordan
Distributor: Sky (August 2005) – 46 min.
Credits: filmed by Claudio von Planta
Director: Marty Benson / Producer: Hugo MacGregor – Princess Productions
 
In this film I’m following British actor Neil Morrissey and his partner Emma on a Bedouin camel trek along the historic footsteps of Lawrence of Arabia.
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Date: July 2005
Location: Pakistan
Distributor: Channel 4 Unreported World – 24 min.
Credits: filmed and directed by Claudio von Planta
Reporter and Producer: Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Production Company: Mentorn
 
In this report Oscar winning Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is looking at the effects of ‘War on Terror’ in Pakistan.
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Date: April 2005
Location: Zambia
Distributor: Channel 4 UK Dispatches – 48 min.
Discovery Times, CNN International
Credits: directed and filmed by Claudio von Planta
Producer: George Waldrum / Assistant: Nina Garthwaite / Editor: Richard Guard
Executive Producer: Ron McCullagh of Insight News Television
 
2006 Winner of One World Media Award for Best Journalism
 
LIVING WITH AIDS is a film with award winning reporter Sorious Samura about the impact of HIV/Aids in Zambia.
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Date: November 2004
Location: India
Distributor: Channel 4 Unreported World – 24 min.
Credits: filmed and directed by Claudio von Planta
Reporter and Producer: Sam Kiley
Production Company: Mentorn
 
RAPE TRADE investigates the trafficking of underage girls into prostitution in India. It is slavery in the most disgusting form.
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Date: September 2004
Location: Sudan, Chad
Distributor: Channel 4 UK Dispatches – 48 min. / Discovery Times, CNN International
Credits: directed and filmed by Claudio von Planta
Producer: George Waldrum / Director of Edit: Simon Atkins / Editor: Paul Dosaj
Executive Producer: Ron McCullagh of Insight News Television
 
2006 Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Investigative Journalism – Long Form
 
SURVIVING SUDAN (LIVING WITH REFUGEES) is a film where award winning reporter Sorious Samura lived for four weeks with Darfur refugees.
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Date: April 2004
Location: Europe, Russia, Kasachstan, Mongolia, Siberia, North Armerica
Distributor: National Geographic, world-wide – 10×45 min.
Credits: directed and filmed by Claudio von Planta (on 3rd motorbike)
Producers Directors: David Alexanian + Russ Malkin / Support Cameraman: Jimmy Simak / Editors: Julia Frater, Jake Roberts, Manus Fraser, Jon Harris
 
Winner of Broadcast Awards 2006 for Best Multi Channel Programme of the Year
 
LONG WAY ROUND is the most iconic documentary series I ever shot. The show captured an epic motorbike journey around the world from London to New York with actors Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman.
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Date: August 2003
Location: Iraq
Distributor: ITV and MBC (17 May 04) – 52 min.
Credits: filmed and directed by Claudio von Planta
Producer and Co-Director: Giles Trendle / Production Company: OR TV
 
SADDAM’S LEGACY offers an overview of Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
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Date: August 1999
Location: Nagorny Karabakh, Azerbaijan
Distributor: Television Suisse Romande
Credits: filmed and directed by Claudio von Planta
 
This news report was designed to raise awareness about the fate of war widows in Nagorny Karabakh / Azerbaijan.
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Date: January 1999
Location: World
Distributor: ICRC + Military Academies world-wide
Credits: filmed, directed, produced and edited by Claudio von Planta
Script and Voice Over: Gwynne Roberts – RW Films
Client: International Committee of the Red Cross ICRC
 
FIGHTING BY THE RULES is a 28-minute educational film for the ICRC explaining the history and the relevance of the Geneva Conventions (International Humanitarian Law). This video is used world-wide in military academies.
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Date: March 1998
Location: Northern Iraq
Distributor: CBS 60 Minutes, ABC Australia, ZDF Germany etc.
Credits: filmed by Claudio von Planta
Director and Reporter: Gwynne Roberts of RW Films / Producer: John Williams
 
1998 Rory Peck Award Special Commendation
1998 Royal Television Society Nomination for the best foreign documentary
 
SADDAM’S SECRET TIME BOMB investigates the long-term effects of chemical weapons used against the Kurdish city of Halabja in 1988.
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Date: November 1996
Location: Kuwait, Afghanistan
Distributor: Channel 4 Dispatches – 48 min.
Credits: filmed by Claudio von Planta
Director and Reporter: Gwynne Roberts of RW Films
 
THE SAUDI TAPES shows the first ever televised interview with Osama Bin Ladin. It’s part of a 48 minute Channel 4 ‘Dispatches’ investigation about the growing opposition movements against the Saudi royal family.
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Date: March 1996
Location: Iraq, Turkey, Ukraine, Slovakia, Germany, Holland, Britain
Distributor: BBC1 Inside Story & world-wide – 65 min.
Credits: directed and filmed by Claudio von Planta
Reporter: Karzan Sherabayani / Producer: Alex Moody / Editor: Malcom Daniels
 
KARZAN’S BROTHERS – ESCAPE FROM THE SAFE HAVEN is a BBC1 investigation into the smuggling of illegal Kurdish immigrants from Iraq to Britain.
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Date: July 1996
Location: Britain, Caribbean Islands, Cuba
Distributor: HTV (UK) – 52 min.
Credits: directed, filmed and edited by Claudio von Planta
2nd Cameraman and Co-Director: Scott Cooper / Sound: Renate Zeigermann
 
THE CUBA CONNECTION tells the story of six idealists building an ‘environmentally friendly’ cargo sailing boat with recycled scrap metal. Their aim is to establish trade relations with Cuba and protest against the American trade embargo.
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Date: June 1990
Location: Indonesia, Irian-Jaya, West Papua
Distributor: Channel 4 UK & world-wide distribution.
Credits: directed and filmed by Claudio von Planta
Editor: Charles Frater / Executive Producer: Alan Hayling
 
REBELS OF THE FORGOTTEN WORLD offers the first ever insight into the West Papuan independence struggle against the Indonesian Army, which occupied the Western part of New Guinea in 1963.
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Date: August 1985
Location: Afghanistan
Distributor: ZDF (Germany), Antenne 2 (France)
Credits: directed, filmed and edited by Claudio von Planta
 
This MINEFIELD CASUALTY of an Afghan Mujahedin epitomises the beginning of my documentary filmmaker career. It was the most frightening moment in my life.
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