Private Project

Bouddi Wild Swim

BOUDDI WILD SWIM is human adventure in a changing world.

At first glance it’s a simple quest; a group of swimmers training for and attempting a 23 kilometre ocean swim.

It’s a big undertaking; the shoreline follows Bouddi National Park on NSW’s Central Coast, which is raw bushland, treacherous seas and often inaccessible coastline.

This quest is a classic meditation on human motivation, endurance and potential heroism.

But it becomes much more.

Mother Nature is in flux. A swim is no longer just a swim.

As the months unfold, dramatic challenges escalate; global pandemic, record-breaking floods, and shark attack.

The swimmers' local quest becomes a global lens.

Whether they ’succeed’ isn’t up to them.

It’s up to Mother Nature. And how she feels on the day…

  • Toni Houston
    Director
    Being Change, The Peacemaker,AQUA
  • Toni Houston
    Writer
    Wild Australia: After the Fires, A Wild Year on Earth,Wildest Places,
  • Sarah Beard
    Producer
    Current: Secrets of the Octopus, Nat Geo/Disney Plus, Sea Lions Life By A Whisker, Blue.
  • Chris Young
    Key Cast
    "As himself"
  • Nada Pantle
    Key Cast
    "As herself"
  • Matt Bradley
    Key Cast
    "As himself"
  • Nicole Holyer
    Key Cast
    "As himself"
  • Eric (Aka Endorphin) Chapus
    Composer
    Musician -- Endorphin
  • Terry Webster
    DOP
  • Toni Houston
    Editor
    Wild Australia: After the Fires, A Wild Year on Earth
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    54 minutes 40 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 16, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    20,000 AUD
  • Country of Origin:
    Australia
  • Country of Filming:
    Australia
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Red, Go pro, Mavic drone
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16.9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Coastal Surge Festival
    Avoca
    Australia
    June 29, 2023
    Premiere
    N/A
Distribution Information
  • N/A
Director Biography - Toni Houston

Toni is passionate about the natural world, the ocean, and wildlife filmmaking. With this as focus, she has worked in documentary production for over 30 years, with multiple broadcast and independent credits as writer, editor, director and camera.
This includes production for ABC TV, BBC America and BBC Earth, CBC Canada, and the Smithsonian Institute USA. She directed/edited/produced Being Change for ABC’s Compass program, was co-producer/camera for The Peacemaker on ABC’s Australian Story and was writer/editor for WildBear Entertainment’s TV series World’s Greatest Icons of Nature. Most recently Toni was engaged as writer/editor by Northern Pictures producing the six-part natural history series A Wild Year on Earth and the ABC TV co-produced documentary After the Wildfires which won Best Nature film at the 2021 Cannes World Wildlife Festival.
Toni was introduced to the marvels of the undersea by close friend, colleague and Emmy-award winning coral reef cinematographer David Hannan and learnt to dive on the Great Barrier Reef in her teens. Enraptured with the natural world, Toni also spent five years working as onboard filmmaker for the National Geographic Lindblad Explorer, chronicling ecosystems as diverse as Antarctica, Arctic, Baja and Galapagos.
She is a published fiction writer and former journalist, and currently works as Media and Content Coordinator for the charity conservation organization Aussie Ark which specializes in breeding and rewilding some of Australia’s most endangered animals.

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Director Statement

In the making of Bouddi Wild Swim Toni hopes to inspire others to connect more deeply to Mother Nature and embark on adventures that foster understanding and protection of Her.