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Filmography
Superflu: Race Against A Killer (2006)
1 hour documentary HD for National Geographic and SBS
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To most of us, the flu is yearly ritual of misery - nothing more. But now there's a flu out there potentially more deadly than anything the world has every seen. It's a disease that could kill the young and healthy in astounding numbers - a virus as terrifying as the most deadly plagues known to man. And it's just an evolutionary tick away from becoming highly contagious.
In 1997 a mysterious new virus spread like wildfire through the live chickens markets of Hong Kong, killing poultry with alarming speed. Then, to the shock of scientists, the virus jumped directly from birds to humans - something that had never happened before and has chilling implications. Virus hunters attempted to get the outbreak under control by slaughtering every chicken in Hong Kong, but then in 2003 a new strain of the virus ripped through the poultry farms across SE Asia where it has now killed over 60 people.
Scientists call it H5N1. So far 75% of the people it has infected have died - a mortality rate higher than smallpox and even the bubonic plague. And all the while, the H5N1 has been mutating lethally - first killing wild birds that normally carry it without symptoms, then tigers and cats, and then ominously, passing from one human to another. Every day, H5N1 gets one step closer to becoming a contagious, airborne disease like the common flu.
From hot zone labs around the world and to remote regions of SE Asia, Superflu: Race Against A Killer follows an international team of leading virus hunters as they attempt to stop H5N1 before it's too late. Virologists and epidemiologists are tracking the viruses every move and using computer models to show how we may be able to prevent a human outbreak at its source if we get there in time. Inside the laboratory, we follow scientists working on new genetic engineering techniques to produce an effective vaccine.
Will any of these solutions really work and how is the world preparing for what scientists tell us is inevitable? Superflu: Race Against A Killer takes a terrifying glimpse into the future to look at what will happen if a pandemic on the scale predicted were to happen today - millions of deaths worldwide, hospitals overwhelmed, panic and social upheaval, the economy and the normal functions of society brought to a standstill.
Superflu: Race Against A Killer is a spellbinding detective story that goes to the frontlines of the battle against H5N1 - from the most advanced level 3 biosafety laboratories to the poultry markets and rural villages of SE Asia where the nightmare is already unfolding. Advanced computer graphics take us inside the workings of H5N1 and reveals the secrets that make it so deadly. Historical film archive reveals the horrors wrought by pandemic influenza in the past and dramatic re-creations take a chilling look into the future that may not be far off if the worst-case scenario comes true.
Scared? We should be. This is no figment of scientists' imaginations - they are warning us that the prospects are real.
Superflu: Race Against A Killer is a spellbinding detective story following the world's premier virus hunters as they attempt to understand and stop H5N1 before its too late. The film is also a chilling glimpse into the future as we see what the world would look like if the worst-case scenario comes true.
Awards:
Distributed to over 20 countries worldwide by National Geographic International.
Outstanding Achievement Award, Editing, 2006 Western Australian Screen Awards.
Bronze Chris Award, 2006 Columbus International Film & Video Festival.