"I've worked on some pretty massive projects in my time but they're completely dwarfed by the scale of earth. Over the past 5 years‚ we have filmed at over 200 locations worldwide; we have spent a record 4‚500 days in the field and employed over 40 cameramen‚ all of whom are complete experts in their own field."

"Every shoot presented massive logistical challenges. Gaining access to the locations took years of negotiations. But because of our experience‚ logistical knowledge and reputation‚ we were able to get in and bring back such wonderful images - it's something that you couldn't simply buy."

Alastair Fothergill,Director

How well do we know planet earth? Using the most advanced film-making methods ever developed, EARTH takes us on a tour of our home as we've never seen it before.
In a time when the world-wide awareness of the fragility and endangerment of our own home planet is increasing more and more, this film is very up-to-date and fascinates the audience in a gentle way.
In France, EARTH is the most successful documentary of the year in France after only four weeks with over one million enthusiastic viewers. In Spain, it was just the same, where EARTH had developed into the most successful nature cinema documentary after only ten days. EARTH has become the most successful natural history release ever since its opening across Europe and Japan.
Director Alastair Fothergill (DEEP BLUE), one of the pioneers in the modern genre of nature filming, and Director Mark Linfield show aerial shots and close-up views without precedent, which were taken with the newest exposure techniques specifically developed for this film. The spectator has the opportunity to observe fascinating landscapes and animals in the wild - from a perspective which people could largely not see with their own eyes - and from a perspective that moves you deeply.

OUTLINE
Five billion years ago a massive asteroid crashed into the young earth. The impact was so great that it tilted the entire planet at an angle of twenty-three and a half degrees. But far from being a catastrophe, this cosmic accident was crucial to creating life and the world as we know today.
Without the earth's tilt, we wouldn't have such a spectacular variety of landscapes, or such extremes of hot and cold. We wouldn't have the changing seasons and, most importantly, we wouldn't have the perfect conditions for life.
When the team behind EARTH set out to tell the story of our planet, they chose the sun as their guide. The journey begins close to the North Pole, where there are 24 hours of darkness during winter .Only in March does the sun rise over the horizon for the first time.
Here we meet the first star of the film - a mother polar bear who has spent the winter under the snow. Advanced film-making techniques capture the moment her cubs venture into the daylight for the very first time. All the cubs want to do is play - but the mother has other things on her mind. All too soon, finding food will be a matter of life and death.
Early in our journey we learn that the sun can be both a blessing and a curse. While its warmth is welcome, it also starts to melt the landscape in which the polar bears have made their home. We see the male bear struggling as the ice melts beneath his paws …
Leaving the icy Arctic Wasteland, we travel south, stopping to take in the sight of three million caribou in Canada.  Their 2,000 mile search for fresh pasture is the longest over land migration on earth. But the vast herds do not travel alone. Hungry wolves shadow them, all along the way. We watch from the air as the wolves co-operate to separate a calf from its mother . How will the pursuit finally end?
To reach the first trees on our planet we need to travel further south still. 1,200 miles from the North Pole, stunted shrubs mark the 'tree line' of our planet - the northern-most point where trees can grow. This is the start of the Taiga - the greatest coniferous forest in the world. This lonely woodland stretches unbroken around the northern hemisphere and contains a third of all the trees on earth. In spring, after the icy thaw, the oxygen around the whole world is increased because of these trees. For much of the year it is a snow-covered wonderland, rarely marked by footprints. Those animals that do live there, like the lonely lynx, are true spirits of the wilderness.
1,500 miles south of the North Pole, there is enough sunlight to support broad-leafed woodlands of bluebells, nightingales, foxes and deer .We watch in spring as mandarin duck chicks take their first brave leaps from their nest hole high in the treetops. And in winter - when the deciduous trees have dropped their leaves - we glimpse the rarest cat in the world. An Amur leopard and her cub scrape a living in the harsh cold.
We continue our journey south to the equator . Here the sun shines for 12 hours every day. Where there is enough rainfall, there is life in abundance. Tropical rain forests cover just three percent of our planet, but they are home to more than half of all its plants and animals. In Papua New Guinea alone, there are 42 different species of birds of paradise, with an extraordinary variety of amusing mating displays.
However , not everywhere around the equator is as hospitable. In the Kalahari, the sun beats down on barren desert. Here we meet an elephant mother with her tiny newborn calf, traveling with her family group, aiming for paradise in the Okavango Delta. After days  of trekking in search of food and water , the elephants find a small waterhole. But they must share the precious water with a pride of lions. Will their uneasy truce last?
The sun also fuels life in the oceans. It is here that we enter the final stage of our journey.
In the tropical waters near the equator we meet a humpback whale mother and her newborn baby. When the calf is five months old, the family of two set out on the longest migration of any marine mammal: over 3,700 miles from the tropics to the southern extreme of our planet. We follow the whales as they encounter some of the oceans' most awe-inspiring spectacles, and watch violent storms form over the tropical seas.
EARTH showcases some of the most breath-taking landscapes on this planet, from the greatest mountain ranges to the highest waterfalls and the harshest deserts. And it also portrays some of the most incredible animals, whose lives are in a delicate balance. As the rhythm of the seasons starts to change, their struggle for survival becomes even harder .And so life on earth goes on. A story played out billions of times a day, 365 days a year , as the earth moves through the seasons, every living creature bending to the power of the sun. No film has ever captured the epic scope of the drama of an entire planet, yet told it with heartbreaking and hear t warming intimacy of real animal characters. Until now …

READ MORE ABOUT FILMING THE WHITE BEASTS OF THE ARCTIC
A RAPID DESCENT AMONGST MIGHTY PEAKS - FILMING IN THE HIMALAYAS
FILMING THE DESERT ELEPHANTS - THE JOY OF THE SPRING RAINS
GETTING CLOSE TO THE GIANTS OF THE OCEAN - THE ART OF FILMING HUMPBACK
CAPTURING PREDATION IN SLOW MOTION - THE JOY OF DIGITAL


PRODUCTION TEAM
ALASTAIR FOTHERGILL, DIRECTOR
"The sheer scale of EARTH is frankly breathtaking. Nobody in the history of cinema has ever had so much time, resources and talent brought together for one documentary feature. "Sometimes when you find yourself in a small, dark cutting room everything gets smaller and smaller as you edit the piece. What's so wonderful is that as soon as you see the muted pictures on the big screen, add the sound effects and the music of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and George Fenton, then suddenly the picture and the experience gets bigger and bigger again. I hope that if nothing else, those sitting in the cinema will have that big experience that I originally had out in the wild. You can go into a rainforest and turn over a rock and going on in that tiny space are intimate, powerful, extraordinary stories that I believe are enormously engrossing. That's why the natural world fascinates me: it's wonderful on the big scale, but fantastic on the micro scale as well."
Alastair Fothergill was educated at the Universities of St Andrew's and Durham. He joined the BBC Natural History Unit (NHU) in 1983. He has worked on a wide range of the department's programmes, including the BAFTA award-winning THE REALLY WILD SHOW,WILDLIFE ON ONE and the innovative REEFWATCH, where he was one of the team that developed live broadcasting from beneath the sea. He went on to work on the BBC ONE series, THETRIALS OF LIFE, with Sir David Attenborough. In 1993 he directed LIFE INTHE FREEZER, a six-part series for BBC ONE celebrating the wildlife of the Antarctic. While still working on the series, he was appointed Head of the NHU in November 1992. In June 1998, he stepped down from his role as Head of the NHU to concentrate on directing DEEP BLUE, the ground-breaking feature-length film on the earth's oceans, which achieved both critical and box office success for it's outstanding cinematography. DEEP BLUE went on to rejuvenate worldwide interest in the documentary film genre.

MARK LINFIELD, DIRECTOR
"Five years is a long time. Over the course of that period I think all the team at times thought, 'can we pull this off? It's so difficult in a production of this length: you have ups and downs; some shoots fail, some shoots are successful. You have to constantly rethink the story. But after 5 years, looking back at it I think it worked out really well. "We're hoping that EARTH is for absolutely everybody. We're hoping that everyone will fall in love with their planet once they have seen it, not matter how old they are. If this film does even a small amount to make people fall in love with their planet and do something, to change its future, than I will feel very proud indeed having worked on EARTH."
Mark Linfield started his career in 1990 working on a BBC documentary in West Africa. After several years he joined Green Umbrella Ltd, where he produced and directed many award winning films, including THETRIUMPH OF LIFE,THE BATTLES OF BRAVEHEART,ORANGUTANS:THE HIGH SOCIETY, and THE TEMPLE TROOP. In 2000 Mark Linfield returned to the BBC full time to produce and direct on the BAFTA nominated LIFE MAMMALS with Sir David Attenborough. In the last four years he has produced the award winning CAPUCHINS:THE MONKEY PUZZLE and two episodes of PLANET EARTH, including the opening show of POLETO POLE.

SOPHOKLES TASIOULIS, PRODUCER
"I see EARTH as a history film rather than a natural history film, and in the years to come some of what we see in EARTH will not be there anymore. By that alone, this film will become more and more important."
SophoklesTasioulis has been involved in diverse film and TV productions since 1998. He was the co-founder and part-owner of THESA Film, an independent production company in Berlin. In 1998, as the Managing Director and Manager of the documentary department, he built up the Hope&Glory film production company. During his career , in addition to selected motion pictures for an international audience, he has produced more than 100 programme hours. From among his productions the documentary series CHEERLEADER STORIES and SHOES FROM AMERICA were shown at major festivals. As the Manager of Production at Greenlight Media AG, he is responsible for the development, financing and executive production. In addition, he advises in questions of content and oversees the cooperation with a number of international co-producers, broadcasting companies and distribution companies. Sophokles Tasioulis is producer of the German-Spanish co-production THE GREAT MATCH, as well as the world success DEEP BLUE. Currently, he is busy preparing a further large documentary production SIBERIA, as well as the finishing of a cinema animation film QUEST FOR A HEART.

ALIX TIDMARSH, PRODUCER
"What's wonderful about our home is that millions and millions of lives and stories are played out everyday of the year and all are delicately intertwined because we are all influenced by the sun and its effect of creating the seasons. Each wildlife story is unique and you can't help but want the heroes in that story to succeed, and when they do, you can't help but feel inspired and give a little cheer ."
On her previous feature film project, DEEP BLUE, AlixTidmarsh spearheaded the vision with the Director of creating a feature film on the oceans. Working with co-producers Greenlight Media, DEEP BLUE was launched in 2004, grossing $30 million at the box office and has sold to date over one million DVD's. She is currently producing a number of other feature films as well as providing consultancy services through her media consultancy called B8 Media. B8 Media supports the development, funding and marketing processes in film and television. AlixTidmarsh previously was at BBC Worldwide for 7 years, as Director of Marketing where she headed an integrated, full service marketing operation that included strategic market planning and the creative execution of campaigns.

ANDRÉ SIKOJEV, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Since 1981 André Sikojev has worked as a freelance journalist (among other publications for DER SPIEGEL) and as a literary translator of European epics. In addition to this, he works as an author (THE NARTS - CHILDREN OFTHE SUN) and as a publisher and issued a number of books and texts in the areas of church history, art, literature and art history.
André Sikojev is one of the co-founders of Greenlight Media AG and since 2006 chairman of the supervisory board. Furthermore, he is the author of the successful animated series SIMSALAGRIMM and together with Stefan Beiten and NikolausWeil the producer of the series. As the co-producer and producer , he has developed and implemented further animation films, including FUNKY COPS,QUEST FOR A HEART and SIMSALAGRIMM II, theTV-documentaries SANDSTONES, GIORGIO ARMANI -A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS and ICELAND -THE REALM OFTHE GODS, as well as the motion picture THE GREAT MATCH. He is also Executive Producer of DEEP BLUE and EARTH.

STEFAN BEITEN, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Stefan Beiten began his international career in 1993 in the film and media law firm Chrystie & Berle in Los Angeles. He continued his career as a lawyer for Beiten Burkhardt in Berlin and as an Investment Banker for film and media finance with ABN AMRO in London. In 1998 Stefan Beiten co-founded Greenlight Media AG and became chairman of the board of the media company. He is co-creator and producer of the successful animated series SIMSALAGRIMM and Executive Producer of the productions GIORGIO ARMANI - A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS, ICELAND - REALM OFTHE GODS and SANDSTONES, FUNKY COPS, DEEP BLUE,THE GREAT MATCH, EARTH and QUEST FOR A HEART. At Greenlight Media, he is responsible for company strategy, co-production, finances and distribution. Stefan Beiten is furthermore a co-founder and Managing Partner of the Berlin Atlantic Group, with offices in Berlin,Atlanta and Zug to which Greenlight Media belongs.

NIKOLAUS WEIL, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Nikolaus Weil studied law in Freiburg, Munich and New York. As an attorney he specialized in film financing, entertainment and publishing law. He represented numerous clients from the film and music industry. He was also involved in numerous structured finance as well as M&A transactions in the media area. In 1998 he co-founded Greeenlight Media AG and was appointed Chief Operating Officer of Greenlight Media, responsible for international co-productions, project financing and business affairs. He is Executive Producer of the internationally successful animated series SIMSALAGRIMM, HAPPILY N'EVER AFTER, FUNKYCOPS, QUEST FOR A HEART as well as GIORGIO ARMANI - A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS, ICELAND - REALM OF THE GODS, SANDSTONES, DEEP BLUE, EARTH, and THE GREAT MATCH.
NikolausWeil is also a co-founder and Managing Partner of the Berlin Atlantic Group, an international investment group specialized in alternative assets, to which Greenlight Media also belongs.

GEORGE FENTON, COMPOSER
George Fenton was nominated five times for the Oscar and is one of the best known names in film music. He wrote the scores for numerous award-winning motion pictures and television productions, for example for GANDHI, CRY FREEDOM, DANGEROUS LIASONS, MEMPHIS BELLE,THE FISHER KING, SHADOWLANDS,THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE and ANNA ANDTHE KING, SWEET HOME ALABAMA and SWEET SIXTEEN.
In May 2003, Fenton conducted the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra for DEEP BLUE, their first recording for a cinema film and in 2007 again for EARTH. For the PLANET EARTH soundtrack he was awarded "Soundtrack Composer of the Year" at the Classical Brit Awards.

BERLIN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA, FILM SCORE
For the first time in their history, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by the composer George Fenton, played the soundtrack for the Greenlight Media/BBC World- wide production, DEEP BLUE.This cooperation was also successfully continued with EARTH.
Since it was founded in 1882, the orchestra has been conducted by different distinguished conductors, ranging from Hans von Bülow,  Felix Weingartner , and Richard Strauss, via Gustav Mahler , Johannes Brahms and Edvard Grieg, who all played an important role in making the orchestra world-famous.
From 1955 until shortly before he died in 1989, Herbert von Karajan directed the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. During this time they played for an overwhelming number of recordings and were often on world-tour . Sir Simon Rattle made it a condition of his signing with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra that it be turned into a self-governing public foundation, with the power to make its own artistic and financial decisions. This required a change to state law, which was approved in 2001, allowing him to join the organization in 2002. The current Director of the orchestra is the American Pamela Rosenberg.

PRODUCTION HOUSES
GREENLIGHT MEDIA
Greenlight Media AG, headquartered in Berlin, is a film production and distribution company which operates worldwide. From its base in Germany, Greenlight Media provides development, financing, production and distribution for international, high-quality theatrical and television films - primarily animation, event documentaries and features. It is committed to delivering strong entertainment brands to audiences all around the world. Founded in 1993, Greenlight Media took off with the launch of the extremely successful animated TV series SIMSALAGRIMM, which has since been distributed to over 120 territories worldwide, making it Germany's number one exported TV series of all time.  DEEP BLUE, Greenlight Media's 2003 BBC Worldwide co-production and Event Documentary, was the worlds most successful German film in 2004. The motion picture feature film, THE GREAT MATCH, was selected for the Berlinale Special Section of Berlin's International Film Festival in 2006. In 2002 Greenlight Media and BBC Worldwide closed a 5-picture deal to produce international cinema films, for which Greenlight Media is coordinating the development, the production and the worldwide sales for mutual projects such as EARTH.

BBC WORLDWIDE
BBC Worldwide Limited is the main commercial arm and a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).The company exists to maximise the value of the BBC's assets for the benefit of the licence payer and invest in public service programming in return for rights. The company has six core businesses: Global Channels, GlobalTV Sales, Magazines, Content & Production, Home Entertainment, and Digital Media. In 2006/07 BBC Worldwide generated profits of £111 million on sales of £810 million.

THE BBC NATURAL HISTORY UNIT
The BBC's NHU celebrated its 50th anniversary last year . Based in Bristol, UK, the NHU has been enthralling listeners and viewers around the world with its pioneering techniques to document the flora and fauna of the globe. Its programme makers specialise in capturing the living wonders of the world and continue to find new marvels on the planet. The unit is the world's largest wildlife television and radio production house and holds the world's largest archive of natural history film and sound recordings. It produces around 100 hours of television and 50 hours of radio a year , using a variety of formats including major landmark series, classical wildlife, animal and people documentaries and live broad casts and presenter-led shows for adults and children.

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