Internship Program

The natural history genre has historically been a small niche driven by predominantly white expertise. Given that Africa is a massive component in wildlife documentaries, it makes no sense that these stories are told by producers outside of the continent, and typically not by Africans themselves.

An African perspective is critical in current and future stories of the continent, and given that black African expertise is still rare in the natural history genre, Earth Touch continues to offer an internship program it started in 2008, now focussing more specifically on getting aspiring Africans into viable, global natural history productions.

"I’d like to begin by thanking Earth Touch for the wonderful opportunity. I have been humbled by the experience and have began to understand the direction I want to take in the industry – this is all thanks to being part of this production … The crew and the cast are all friendly as well as welcoming and sometimes they go out of their way to make sure that I understand how everything works and is going to play out." – Snakes in the City field intern Lindokuhle Ngubane

Graeme Duane of Earth Touch: “For years we’ve tried to place Africans in various critical designations within international productions and have succeeded on some projects, however we have found that this expertise is still difficult to come by. Instead of waiting for such people to arrive, we thought it best to actually generate the skills within the genre."

Lara Cox, Group COO added: "We have been fortunate enough to work with various education organisations such as Durban University of Technology and AFDA who have provided interns to Earth Touch over the years successfully. Our plan is to continue this long-term, ongoing relationship with such educators and with NEWF to increase diversity and inclusion in our industry."

Standouts from colleges and universities, as well as candidates who are new to the industry will be placed in appropriate positions in Earth Touch’s existing productions, giving interns a real taste of high-end filmmaking. Earth Touch are committed to offering successful candidates high end, on the job skills training of an international standard.  The hope is that among this intake are future award-winning camera operators, writers and editors. Candidates in the past have gone on to feature in primary credits in high-profile international productions. A great success!

Earth Touch

A current series we are producing later in the year will accept previously disadvantaged, aspiring African filmmakers as interns. The program’s goal is to bring more African filmmakers into the natural history genre.

Filmmakers are identified and trained by Earth Touch and appropriate education and skills growth partners, and deployed in the field and post-production by Earth Touch. This internship and training will be recorded for digital publication and intern exposure.

Earth Touch is an award-winning, global factual media production and distribution company. We produce, co-produce and distribute broadcast 4K, HD, 3D, and VR 360 to a variety of co-production and sales partners across the globe. The company has its production headquarters in South Africa and sales and distribution offices in Washington DC and London.

	Lara Cox – Group COO Lara handles operations, business affairs and legal for the group, coordinating the three offices and the many partnerships of Earth Touch.
	Graeme Duane – Creative Director Graeme is an Emmy-award-winning DP who now handles development and oversees the creative production process.
	Noeleen Padayachee – Head of Production Management & Operations Noeleen heads up the power-house that is Earth Touch's production management. She's built a great reputation for timeous delivery and great communication with clients.