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Southern Cross Schools

Southern Cross is a co-educational day and boarding school based on a 1100 hectare private nature reserve in Hoedspruit, South Africa. The school offers children an education that combines academic excellence, sport, and culture, with the environmental and ethical principles. The school's motto is: "Environmental conscience is born out of authentic knowledge and real life contact with the nature."

  • Hilco Jansma
    Director
    Het Noorderplantsoen
  • Hilco Jansma
    Writer
    Het Noorderplantsoen
  • Hilco Jansma
    Producer
    Het Noorderplantsoen
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    2 minutes 56 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    July 26, 2016
  • Production Budget:
    0 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Netherlands
  • Country of Filming:
    South Africa
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Hilco Jansma

Hilco Jansma (1979) earned his MSc in biology in at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. In his spare time he developed his skills for filming and editing. He volunteered in the 'Flight Artists' project at the Wageningen University and operated a Phantom highspeed camera. This resulted in spectacular footage of animals in slow motion which was handed to the film team of the Dutch natural history documentary film ‘De Nieuwe Wildernis’.

In 2014 Hilco decided to make a nature documentary on ‘Het Noorderplantsoen’ in the city of Groningen, fully in charge of the camera, script, editing and production. His goal is to show people that nature is everywhere, even on our doorstep and that urban nature can be just as fascinating as what we see in BBC documentaries on exotic places. He wants to amaze people to enhance sustainable use of our environment.

In the summer of 2015 his documentary was screened in local cinemas and the Noorderzon festival, drawing over 1500 visitors. Subsequently the film had its world premiere at the Wildlife Film Festival Rotterdam 2015, at which his short video ‘A Leap of Frog’ won the audience award for non-professional documentary. Abroad 'The Noorderplantsoen' documentary was screened at Naturvision, Greenscreen and the Menigoute Festival.

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Director Statement

It was a privilege to be granted access to film at a school as special as Southern Cross in Hoedspruit. It gave me a unique opportunity to film how children are educated on the plants and animals they encounter within the school premises. By making this short video I hope more people will see the importance of having children engaged with nature for they are the future. Only then will nature benefit when they have their say in the next generation.