Mateo Willis

DOCUMENTARY | ANIMALS

Human-animal relationships weave their way through the majority of Mateo's work, a reflection of his semi-wild childhood in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Whether it's landmark natural history for Netflix and the BBC, or intimate character stories, Mateo stumbles his way through the understory of nature searching for, in the wise words of Werner Herzog, 'an ecstatic truth'. 

Currently he's writing a fictional feature based on a woman's search for a whale, for Brouhaha Entertainment, and has just finished directing a film for Apple TV on our troubled relationship with tuna. 

As executive producer and director he's most recently been a part of Omnivore. This premium doc series explores human culture through the lens of food, and is steered by the creative vision of Cary Fukunaga, director of Bond - No Time to Die, and Rene Redzepi, of Noma fame. 

He's poured heart and soul into many landmark series, including Planet Earth 2, Blue Planet 2 , Our Planet, Dynasties, Life Story and Frozen Planet, and made films for National Geographic and Netflix. 

Sitting on a shelf somewhere are two Emmy's and a BAFTA, recognition of Mateo's work as director and (in a former life) a DoP.