Nobody is a nobody. We all create a story about ourselves. Who we are, what we like doing, and what we believe in. And we can always change that story if we like to.

One of my mentor once said to me:

“If you are writing a story on paper and you mainly focus on the style of your handwriting, your story will suffer from it”.

And yes, it’s true. Try writing a story for the first time with the most expensive calligraphy pen, Indian blue ink, and your best handwriting. How does it work out?

Our visual culture is so focused on aesthetically pleasing images, that many brands forget the power of a story. Yes, aesthetics attract. But it doesn’t bond. So I always tell my client to not focus on branding, but to focus on bonding.

“Don’t focus on branding. Focus on bonding.”

Creating narrative structures and story arcs is the foundation of my work. Apart from my skills in film-making and content creation, I have an academic background in storytelling, environmental (science) communication, and narrative persuasion. My cinematic visual style follows. They come together in harmony, like a flock of birds moving simultaneously during civil twilight.

I’m an award-winning filmmaker, content creative, environmental communicator, and I believe in the power of storytelling. I aim to create compelling and impactful stories through a poetic and personal way of storytelling. By echoing the voice of nature and telling the story of our rapidly changing planet, I aim to put nature and wildlife into people’s hearts and diminish the artificial barrier we’ve created between humans and nature.

Storytelling is embedded in the core of our soul. We were born with them. We will die with them, and the next generation will remember and share them. What is your story?

 
 

As a child, Awi was often playing in nature. He was born on an island in the Philippines, and was either swimming among sea turtles in the ocean or playing under the waterfall near his village. At a young age, he moved to Amsterdam (the Netherlands) and felt a great need to explore the unknown. His professional career as a filmmaker started as a hobby, capturing his adventures in the outdoors.

From the deserts in Namibia, mountainous forests in China, the Arctic tundra on Svalbard, to scorching coastal plains in Yemen, Awi has spent a significant amount of time in the wilderness. He can operate in remote areas without running water and electricity and enjoys working in these challenging conditions.

Once in the Namib desert in seek for elephants, Awi stumbled upon African bushmen, also known as indigenous hunter-gatherer people of Southern Africa. They are well-known for the profound connection they have with their land and for their intimate knowledge of the natural world.

Awi realised that wilderness survival skills increased his confidence in remote environments and he was able to travel deeper into the wilderness for longer periods of times. During projects in the wilderness, he has to relinquish on comfort items. He can’t always bring a tent, a gas stove or eight litres of water. It became essential to make a fire, navigate through nature, filter and purify water, identify trees and animal tracks, and move swiftly but silently. 

Apart from his film-making career, Awi became a self-taught survivalist, naturalist (not to be confused with nudist), and wilderness guide.

Studies
Awi studied Communication and Multimedia and graduated with honours from Utrecht University of Applied Sciences. As part of an Erasmus exchange, he studied film directing and cinematography in England (Portsmouth). He finished his Masters’ degree (MA) with cum laude at Örebro University with a major in storytelling in environmental (science) communication.