Tom Mustill

Tom Mustill is a British producer and director of nature documentaries, and the author of a popular science book How to Speak Whale: A Voyage into the Future of Animal Communication.[1][2]

Tom Mustill
Alma materSt Johns College, Cambridge
Occupation(s)Author and documentary film maker
Years active2008–present
Parent(s)Michael Mustill, Caroline Mustill
Websitehttps://www.tommustill.com/

He has collaborated with science and nature personalities including David Attenborough, Greta Thunberg, Stephen Fry and George Monbiot. He co-hosts a podcast, So Hot Right Now, with journalist Lucy Siegle in which guests (including Greta Thunberg, Farhana Yamin and George Monbiot) discuss topics related to climate change and conservation.[3]

In September 2015 he was the unwitting subject of a viral video showing him narrowly escaping death when a humpback whale breached beside him, landing on the kayak in which he was paddling.[4]

Early life and education

Mustill studied Natural Sciences at St John's College, Cambridge,[5] during which time he spent his summers assisting a Russian palaentologist studying rare precambrian fossils in the Ural mountains.[6][7]

After graduating, he worked as a field conservation biologist before moving in to TV production on the basis that this would allow him to have a greater impact on public understanding around and support of conservation and efforts to tackle climate change[8].

Documentary films

Starting out as a researcher in the BBC's wildlife unit, Mustill went on to work on the nature documentary TV series Inside Nature's Giants[9] and since then has specialised in films that combine stories of animals with those of the people who work and live among them.

His film Kangaroo Dundee[10] followed animal sanctuary founder Chris Barns and his mission to rescue and care for orphaned baby kangeroos, and led to Barns becoming an overnight celebrity and unexpected sex symbol,[11] with author Caitlin Moran dubbing him 'David Attenborphwoargh'.[12]

The Bat Man of Mexico[13] featured ecologist Rodrigo Medellín's efforts to track and protect the migratory routes of lesser long-nosed bats across Mexico (and in doing so secure the survival of Tequila, which is made from the Agave plant for which bats are a primary pollinator).[14][15]

Humpback Whales: A Detective Story[16] meanwhile follows a community of whalewatchers, biologists, conservationists and animal rescuers united by their interest in whales, and uses this to explore the growing threats from pollution, maritime traffic and climate change to cetaceans.[17]

Gripping Films

Mustill is the founder of Gripping Films, a production company specialising in films aimed at driving social change.

His short film #NatureNow[18] was created from recycled footage, released under a Creative Commons license and translated through crowdsourcing into 30 languages.[19] It was screened to delegates at the 2019 UNFCCC Climate COP27 and retweeted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,[20] actors Jeff Bridges[21] and Mark Ruffalo and the band Pearl Jam.[22]

Another film, Imagine For 1 Minute (conceived under lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic and screened at a 'virtual summit' of the United Nations), was created from the crowdsourced selfies and voice notes,[23] including from spiritual leaders including Pope Francis and Mata Amritanandamayi, diplomats including António Guterres and Christiana Figueres, and sports personalities including Paulo Dybala, Nico Rosberg and Dan Carter.[24]

Low-carbon filmmaking

Mustill is an Ambassador for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Film and Television Sustainability scheme.[25] His film Humpback Whales: A Detective Story was the first BBC Natural World production to receive a BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Albert certification,[26] while his short film #NatureNow was carbon neutral.[27]

Whale breach

In September 2015, Mustill was kayaking with a friend in Monterey Bay, California when an adult humpback whale breached beside them and landed on their kayak, forcing them under water and narrowly avoiding crushing them.[28] A video clip of the event taken by a nearby tourist went viral.[29] Although Mustill and his friend escaped uninjured, Mustill claimed that the experience left a deep mark on him.[28]

In his film Humpback Whales: A Detective Story he speaks to others who have had similar encounters as well as whale conservationists and biologists to try to track down the whale and to understand the factors that might have led to it breaching on him.[16] In the course of this scientists were able to identify the individual whale that had landed on him ('Prime Suspect'/'CRC-12564'[30]) using machine learning, a branch of Artificial Intelligence.

How to Speak Whale

Following filming of Humpback Whales: A Detective Story, Mustill wrote How to Speak Whale: A Voyage into the Future of Animal Communication, a popular science book which explores recent developments in natural science and AI that could bring humans closer to communicating with animals, and particularly cetaceans.[31][32][33]

Filmography
Year Series Episode Role Narrated by/Featuring
2009 Inside Nature's Giants S1E1-4, S2E3: "The Elephant", "The Whale", "The Crocodile", "The Giraffe", "The Big Cats"[34] Assistant Producer Mark Evans, Richard Dawkins, Joy Reidenberg
2010 Nanoyou[35] Writer/Director/Producer[36] Stephen Fry
2010 Inside Nature's Giants S2 Special: "The Giant Squid" Edit Producer[37] Mark Evans, Richard Dawkins, Joy Reidenberg
2011 Inside Nature's Giants S3 Special: "The Sperm Whale"[38] Director[39][40] Mark Evans, Richard Dawkins, Joy Reidenberg
2011 Inside Nature's Giants S3E3: "The Camel"[41] Director[40] Mark Evans, Richard Dawkins, Joy Reidenberg
2012 Inside Nature's Giants S4E4: "The Jungle" Producer/Director[42] Mark Evans, Richard Dawkins, Joy Reidenberg
2013 How to Win the Grand National "How to Win the Grand National" Director[43] Mark Evans
2013 Natural World S31E7: "Kangaroo Dundee - Part 1" Producer/Director[44] Juliet Stevenson, Chris 'Brolga' Barnes
2013 Natural World S31E8: "Kangaroo Dundee - Part 2" Producer/Director[44] Juliet Stevenson, Chris 'Brolga' Barnes
2014 Natural World S33E6: "The Bat Man of Mexico"[13] Director[43][45][46] David Attenborough
2016 Natural World S35E6: "Giraffes: Africa's Gentle Giants" Producer/Director[47] David Attenborough
2018 Extraordinary Rituals S1E3: "Changing World" Producer/Director[48] Simon Reeve (British TV presenter)
2018 Extraordinary Rituals S1E2: "Great Gatherings" Producer/Director[49] Simon Reeve (British TV presenter)
2019 Natural World S37E7: "Humpback Whales: A Detective Story" Producer/Director[50][51]
2019 #NatureNow Director[52][53] Greta Thunberg, George Monbiot
2020 Imagine For 1 Minute Director[54] Greta Thunberg, Dan Carter, Christiana Figueres, Pope Francis
2021 For Nature Director[55] Greta Thunberg
2021 Thank you sea Director[56]

References
  1. "The Strange and Secret Ways That Animals Perceive the World". The New Yorker. 2022-06-01. Retrieved 2022-06-19.
  2. Barkham, Patrick (2022-09-18). "Talking to whales: can AI bridge the chasm between our consciousness and other animals?". The Guardian. Retrieved 2022-09-19.
  3. So Hot Right Now on Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 2022-06-21 – via Apple Podcasts.
  4. Humpback Whale Breaches on Top of Kayakers. Retrieved 2022-06-19 – via YouTube.
  5. "Tom Mustill on 'Inside Nature's Giants'". St John's College, Cambridge.
  6. "Q&A with Tom Mustill (Part II 2004–5)". Cambridge Zoology. June 27, 2019.
  7. "The Ediacaran White Sea biota in the Central Ural" – via ResearchGate.
  8. "Q&A with Tom Mustill (Part II 2004–5)". Cambridge Zoology. 27 June 2019.
  9. "Inside Nature's Giants (TV Series 2009– )". IMDb. Retrieved 2022-06-21.
  10. "Kangaroo Dundee". BBC Two. Retrieved 2022-06-21.
  11. "Phwoargh! Poms hot on Kangaroo Dundee". The Australian. 2013-02-06. Retrieved 2022-06-19.
  12. Moran, Caitlin. "Caitlin Moran on TV: Baby animals, a sexy man in his undercrackers — this is dynamite". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2022-06-21.
  13. "The Bat Man of Mexico". BBC Two. Retrieved 2022-06-21.
  14. "Natural World: The Batman of Mexico – TV review". The Guardian. 2014-06-14. Retrieved 2022-06-21.
  15. "NATURE: The Bat Man Of Mexico". KPBS Public Media. 2021-06-29. Retrieved 2022-06-21.
  16. "Humpback Whales - A Detective Story". American Conservation Film Festival | ACFF. 2019-07-12. Retrieved 2022-06-21.
  17. "BornWild Travel Adventures | Interview with natural world film director, TOM MUSTILL". BornWild. 8 April 2019. Retrieved 2022-06-21.
  18. "Nature Now video with Greta Thunberg". conservation.org. Retrieved 2022-06-21.
  19. "NatureNow". Gripping Films. Retrieved 2022-06-21.
  20. @justintrudeau (2019-09-27). "And that's why we're planting 2 billion trees. Watch this ⤵️" (Tweet). Retrieved 2022-06-21 – via Twitter.
  21. @thejeffbridges (2019-09-21). "'We can still fix this. You can still fix this.' @GretaThunberg" (Tweet). Retrieved 2022-06-21 – via Twitter.
  22. @pearljam (2019-09-27). "Protect. Restore. Fund. We must take action now to protect nature. Watch the full video: pj.lnk.to/GretaThunbergTw #ClimateWeekNYC #PeopleNeedNature #NatureNow @ConservationOrg @GretaThunberg @CIBrasil" (Tweet). Retrieved 2022-06-21 – via Twitter.
  23. "Imagine for 1 Minute". The Nature Conservancy. Retrieved 2022-06-21.
  24. "Imagine for 1 minute". Retrieved 2022-06-21.
  25. "Tom Mustill". Jackson Wild: Nature. Media. Impact. Retrieved 2022-06-21.
  26. "Our approach". Gripping Films. Retrieved 2022-06-21.
  27. "How to cut flights from your production". albert. 2019-10-08. Retrieved 2022-06-21.
  28. Tom Mustill (2015-09-21). "I thought the humpback whale was about to land on us. Did it turn away deliberately?". The Guardian. Retrieved 2022-06-21.
  29. Cruises, Source: Sanctuary (2015-09-16). "Kayak couple make narrow escape from humpback whale – video". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2022-06-21.
  30. "Humpback Whale Prime Suspect". happywhale.com. Retrieved 2022-06-21.
  31. "Don't Miss: A new book exploring how AI can help us speak whale". New Scientist. Retrieved 2022-06-21.
  32. "The Strange and Secret Ways That Animals Perceive the World". The New Yorker. 2022-06-01. Retrieved 2022-06-21.
  33. Barkham, Patrick (2022-09-18). "Talking to whales: can AI bridge the chasm between our consciousness and other animals?". The Guardian. Retrieved 2022-09-19.
  34. Big Cats | Inside Nature's Giants, 2012-02-07, retrieved 2023-01-09
  35. The strange new world of Nanoscience, narrated by Stephen Fry, retrieved 2023-01-09
  36. Roberts, Dave (2012-02-14). "What is Nano?". www.nanoscience.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  37. 2010-10-13T12:08:00. "Giant Squid: Inside Nature's Giants". Broadcast. Retrieved 2023-01-17.
  38. Sperm Whale | Inside Nature's Giants, 2012-01-17, retrieved 2023-01-09
  39. "Inside Nature's Giants: Sperm Whale - Windfall Films". www.windfallfilms.com. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  40. "Inside Nature's Giants Season 3". Radio Times. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  41. Camel | Inside Nature's Giants, 2012-06-26, retrieved 2023-01-09
  42. "Inside Nature's Giants: Jungle Special - Windfall Films". windfallfilms.com. Retrieved 2023-01-16.
  43. "2016 Waimea Ocean Film Festival" (PDF). 2016 Waimea Ocean Film Festival. p. 30.
  44. "AGB Films - Kangaroo Dundee. A BBC Natural World Special". www.agbfilms.co.uk. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  45. "BBC Two - The Bat Man of Mexico". BBC. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  46. "Natural World: The Bat Man of Mexico - Windfall Films". www.windfallfilms.com. Retrieved 2023-01-16.
  47. "Giraffes - Africa's Gentle Giants narrated by David Attenborough". www.agbfilms.co.uk. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  48. "Documental: Extraordinary Rituals. Changing World (2018)". Francesc Bailón (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-01-16.
  49. "BBC Two - Extraordinary Rituals - Ritual bloodshed and a forgotten hat". BBC. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  50. "BBC Two - Natural World, 2018-2019, Humpback Whales: A Detective Story". BBC. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  51. "Five Questions for Filmmakers: Humpback Whales - A Detective Story". Jackson Wild: Nature. Media. Impact. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  52. Tom Mustill, #NatureNow Special Jury Award IWFF 2020, retrieved 2023-01-09
  53. "NEW Webby Gallery + Index". NEW Webby Gallery + Index. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  54. "#ImagineFor1Minute - The Tom Mustill Collection". Ecoflix | Empowering Change. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  55. "For Nature - The Tom Mustill Collection". Ecoflix | Empowering Change. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  56. "Thank You, Sea". YouTube.
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