Michael Balson

Ocean to Sky

Back in 1977, Dillon filmed Hillary and crew (including son Peter Hillary) as they jet boated from the mouth of the Ganges to the base of the Himalayas, then set out to climb peak Akash Parbat. Dillon has remastered existing and unseen footage, and interviewed crew members about Hillary's last big expedition.

Rainforest: The Secret Of Life

Rainforests hold the key to the secret of life on our planet. They are the most abundant and diverse land environments on earth. Not only do they safe guard the genetic bounty of our past, they also hold the very key to the future of our world. Rainforest – The Secret of Life captures rare and fascinating wildlife sequences, including the mating rituals of lyrebirds and bowerbirds, and explores the intricate web of life that evolved in these rainforests. It also lead to the recent scientific discovery of the greatest secret of all – how rainforests form part of a vast global system that regulates the world’s climate.

Gong: Montserrat 1973 and Other Stories

A collection featuring rare Daevid Allen and Gong performances and short films. Moody, atmospheric live film of Gong onstage in a cathedral in Montserrat in 1973 with the classic line-up.

Everest by Balloon

In 1991, in a field near the Nepalese hamlet of Gokyo, four men climbed into two fragile wicker baskets and poured flame into their hot air balloons. They were to become the first balloonists to fly over Mount Everest. For Leo Dickinson and Chris Dewhirst, the cameraman and pilot in one of the balloons, the flight was to settle old scores after three previous attempts and several life-threatening crashes. This documentary follows their successful flight over the finest panorama on earth in the oldest of flying machines, before their final crash landing in a remote corner of Tibet. Their voyage remains the only balloon flight over Everest to this day.

Amazon: The Invisible People

The Amazon is the last place on Earth where people who have never been contacted by the modern world live. In Ecuador, an uncontacted tribe called the Tageari are next in the firing line and when contact occurs, their health, their faith, their environment, their love - all the things that define their culture - are changed forever. AMAZON - THE INVISIBLE PEOPLE traces the work of an Australian, Doug Ferguson, who went to Ecuador in 1986 to work with Indigenous people. He married a shaman's daughter, fathered two children and built a rainforest home. Doug has helped three tribes secure and demark their ancestoral land, saved more than a million hectares of pristine rainforest in reserves and National Parks, and established sustainable agricultural projects in a nation devastated by slash and burn agriculture. This is the story of Doug Ferguson's work.