WE FILM INSPIRING STORIES ABOUT OUR ONLY HOME.

ABOUT US

Botanica Films is a full-service, story-driven wildlife and science documentary film and production company with offices in San José, Costa Rica and Bristol, England.

Creative directors and co-founders Emi Kondo and Thomas Poole, combined over twenty years of producing, directing and filming experience across the world as well as their personal experiences working in broadcast, NGO and commercial TV filming for clients such as BBC Studios Natural History Unit, ARTE France, Smithsonian TV, Terra Mater Factual Studios, NHK, NDR, Sony, DJI and others.

After completing their Master's degree in Wildlife Filmmaking at UWE Bristol, a programme in partnership with the BBC Natural History Unit, Thomas and Emi decided to team up to start producing wildlife films. They bring their years of filmmaking and production service experience in some of the most remote regions of the world to the jungles, mountains and oceans of tropical Costa Rica and Latin America.

From film production and sequence work to equipment rental and fixing, Botanica Films focuses on creating and supporting high-quality wildlife, environmental, science documentary and branded content production with world-class film production expertise.

Team

Producer/Director

EMI KONDO

Emi Kondo is a Costa Rican/ Japanese wildlife filmmaker, and a NatGeo Explorer, a Jackson Wild and Santiago Wild media lab fellow, a NatGeo Field Ready fellow, and part of Her Wild Vision Initiative. Recently graduated from the University of the West of England with a Master's in Wildlife Filmmaking, a programme in partnership with the BBC's Natural History Unit.

Working in World Animal Protection she has filmed animals in disaster zones, and farms and documented undercover captive tigers in Thailand, otters in Japanese cafes, and dolphins in venues in the US and Mexico. She has also filmed in the wild pink Amazon river dolphins, golden lion tamarins, hyacinth macaws, and sloth recovery and release efforts in Colombia.

Since 2018, Emi has been working on her National Geographic Society-supported investigation documentary, Jaguar Spirit. And currently developing a short digital series about tent roosting bats in Costa Rica.

DoP / Director

THOMAS POOLE

Thomas has worked as a wildlife, documentary and commercial cameraman,
DoP, Director, long lens cinematographer,
Shotover F1 operator and drone pilot for
over 12 years. With experience
ranging from filming and producing landmark
bluechip natural history for clients
such as BBC Studios, PBS, Terra Mater Factual Studios, Smithsonian Channel and to filming and directing obs-docs and
commercials for the United Nations,
GreenPeace, Land Rover, Jaguar and
Amnesty International.

He is a trained Journalist,
Shotover technician and photographer and has years of field experience using the latest camera, camera trap, cable
cam, gimbal, and drone technology.
"I work fast and am an experienced director, DoP,
technician and problem solver in all
environments, from +48c in the Namib
Desert, to Minus 37 in the Arctic Circle. I thrive on using the best tools available to tell the most compelling stories.