ANIMALS ARE TALKING,
are you listening?
Filmed in Cape Town, South Africa, Animals Are Talking follow Wynter Worsthorne, an Animal Communicator recognized internationally for her work.
“Learning to communicate with your animal friends will open up a whole new world to you. It is not a special gift, but an ability that is innate in us all and just has to be re-awakened and nurtured.
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Despite popular stereotypes, Animal communication is not “new age spiritualism” run amok, but stems from ancient tradition. Indigenous and aboriginal people have been interacting with nature in ways that transcend spoken language since the dawn of time. For our ancestors, the lakes were alive, the mountains could watch us and the forests could talk back. An awareness and kinship with wild animals and their domesticated descendants has been intricately woven into our collective tapestry of consciousness for eons. There is a natural messaging channel along which all animals and even plants communicate with each other to co-exist in harmony on this planet.
Every animal has his or her own unique personality. Just like us, they have complex emotions, and feelings that are very easily hurt. Animals Are Talking exposes a fundamental truth to adults and children alike - that animals feel every bit as acutely as we do. And that we can tap into these emotions, in order to better understand their needs. They experience joy, sadness, loyalty and pain. We want to help people grasp this at the cores of their being; to motivate them towards stemming the relentless tide of cruelty to animals set in motion by humans. Our documentary strives to become a tool to enhance relationships between pets and their owners, and those of wild animals and humans living in close proximity to their natural habitats
SYNOPSIS
Learning to communicate with all species is about becoming in-tune, and at one, with the beings with whom we share this beautiful planet. It is about discovering what is best for the animals, the planet and ourselves. It is about making a measurable difference. Whether you want to understand what your domestic animal friend is feeling and thinking, or if you feel you want to save the world “one ant at a time”, you can find the beginnings of your journey here.
Animals Are Talking starts at Tom Ro Haven a sanctuary for thoroughbred horses rescued from bush raising. Tom Ro is located at the tip of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. The Founders, Gill and Stephanie are concerned about two of their recent rescues and have hired Wynter to talk to the horses. Lets watch Wynter talk to the rescued horses and see if she can discover the cause of their stress.
During her time at the sanctuary, we meet the resident troop of baboons who live in harmony with the 22 horses. We learn about the death sentences that have been passed on all the baboon troops in the area by the local authorities. Their crime? Entering a house three or more times looking for food. Although there is no recorded history of a local baboon killing a human, or even deliberately hurting a human, according to the authorities this crime is unforgivable. Before humans arrived thousands of baboons roamed the hills of the Cape Point. It is their ancestral homeland. Soon there will be no baboons left.
DIRECTOR/WRITER/PRODUCER
Louise Hogarth
Louise Hogarth is an Academy Award winning filmmaker. Her documentaries provide a platform for very difficult subjects and have dealt with such issues as HIV/AIDS, ORPHANS and LGBT rights. Her work brings to light true stories about people and events with the intention of inspiring a call to action and accelerating social change.
Hogarth is the founder of Dream Out Loud Films and the DO Ubuntu Orphan Bracelet Campaign a revenue-generating project that employs women living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa and supports two orphanages. She supports 175 orphans in Africa from money generated from the sale of the DO Ubuntu bracelets.
ANIMAL COMMUNICATOR
Wynter Worsthorne
Wynter Worsthorne is based in Cape Town and has been practicing as a Professional Animal Communicator since 2002. She is the author of “Where is Biggles?” and teaches introduction and advanced workshops internationally. Her deep love is for African Wildlife. She works closely with Baboon Matters Trust and the Global White Lion Protection Trust. She is one of the few people invited to facilitate groups at Tsau Conservancy in South Africa where the rare and sacred White Lions roam free in a protected area of their endemic homeland.
In 2010 Wynter founded Animaltalk Africa’s Online Academy, which has developed into a wonderful like-minded community of people learning how to communicate with the animals. To learn more about her work please visit www.animaltalkafrica.co.za
COMPOSER
Laura Stevens
Laura is a native South African composer for screen, stage and concert, currently living and working in London, UK. Being the (admittedly unfinished) product of a multi-cultural upbringing, she likes to write music that takes you somewhere.
A graduate of London's Royal College of Music, she fuses symphonic Orchestral styles with eclectic world music influences, electronic sounds and elements from the music of popular youth culture. She is also passionate working on projects with a conscience, and amplifying unheard voices and perspectives through the arts. Elephant Refugees has been a profound opportunity to revisit musical memories of her childhood in South Africa. She has written original scores for clients like the English National Ballet; BBC; Royal Shakespeare Company; SRF-1 (Swiss TV Network); Edinburgh Festival; Berlinale; CERN (Arts vs Science Programme); and London's National Gallery.
PRODUCER & PHOTOGRAPHER
Kari Collins
Kari Collins joined Dream Out Loud in 2013 after 20 years of a successful business career. She brings her experience and skills to the role of Producer. Ms. Collins worked on Elephant Refugees and traveled to South Africa and Botswana with Ms. Hogarth for filming and production. In 2019 Louise and Kari returned to South Africa to finish postproduction for Elephant Refugees and to film a pilot about inter-species communication between Humans and Animals, working title: Animals are Talking.
PRODUCER
Morongwa Magongoa
Morongwa has worked on high impact projects such as Codifying Culture, EVP, Performance Management Processes and capacity building initiatives for National Department of Health executive management. In addition, she is trustee of the Ndlovu Youth Choir, winner of America’s Got Talent 2019. Morongwa is defined as a Social Engineer.
Her passion for telling African Stories has created an opportunity to join DOL Films as a Producer. Currently she is in post-production working on Animals Are Talking a documentary filmed in Cape Town, South Africa.
CINEMATOGRAPHER
Moses Tau
Moses is a multimedia graduate who honed his storytelling and camera skills shooting behind the scenes on music videos. Having completed his studies, Moses was hired to work on an international 4K wildlife series. By the end of the production he had progressed from data wrangler to camera operator and has never looked back.
He went on to film a series about the plight of South Africa’s Rhinos and the conservation efforts of a young, all female team at an orphanage in a remote corner of Limpopo before moving to Johannesburg to work for a hybrid creative agency. Following his stint in commercials, Moses returned to documentaries and has filmed across the continent for a number of local and international broadcasters.
Moses continues his quest to carve his own style and identity as a Cinematographer, whilst working on projects that inspire him.
EDITOR
Marina Du Toit
Marina du Toit was born in Pretoria, South Africa. At the age of 15 she discovered that she loved the energy of television production and decided to pursue a career in the local TV & Film industry. Since starting her professional editing career as a junior editor in Johannesburg, she has edited a variety of documentary, current affairs, travel, wildlife, promotional, true crime and corporate programmes, which were aired on National Geography, Netflix, Al Jazeera, PBS, Amazon Prime, e.tv, Africa Magic, SABC, kykNET, Fox Crime Africa, Smithsonian Earth and the eNews Channel, as well as at various film festivals all over the world. Some highlights include Return to the USS Atlanta: Defender of Guadalcanal (winner of the Spirit of Independents Award at the 2012 Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival), several crime documentaries for Case Files Africa, the 4K Wildlife Odyssey series for Smithsonian Earth and Curse of the Nobody People, which was the winner of a CNN Multichoice African Journalist Award. She has a BA in Visual Studies from the University of Pretoria, as well as a BA Honours in Film Theory and Practice from the University of Cape Town. In 2012 she moved to Cape Town, South Africa.