ON LOCATION: May 2006, taking a 'modified' XL-H1 for a crane ride into Karnak Temple, Luxor.

LATEST UPDATES

- JANUARY 2008 - All post production has been completed on the "Road Through The Desert" documentary, which is airing on RAI 2, Sunday January 20th at 18:00 - with the Italian title of 'Mal di Deserto'. (TO VIEW THE TRAILER, CLICK HERE). Next stop is Marrakech, Morocco, to resume work with photographer Stefano Torrione on the Djema El Fnaa project.

- DECEMBER 2007 - After a two weeks shoot through the Western Desert, post production starts in London for the RAI documentary, due to air in January 2008. 'Sounds of Damascus', the new film about Syria, is almost complete and gets its first screening in London on Dec 12th. UPDATE: new trailer online - check it out here

ON LOCATION: December 2007, Crossing the Great Sand Sea heading for the Gilf Kebir

- NOVEMBER 2007 - A 10 minutes promo for the new Syrian documentary is now online: click here to watch it. Meanwhile, shooting continues in Egypt through the Baharia, Farafra, Dakhla, and Kharga oasis, and the legendary Gilf El Kebir plateau, famously featured as the backdrop for Anthony Minghella's 'The English Patient' finale

ON LOCATION: The entrance into the Mountain of the Dead, near Siwa (Nov. 2007)

- OCTOBER 2007 - Back to Egypt to shoot 'La Via del Deserto' (The Road through the Desert), to be broadcasted by Italian state television RAI early next year. The film is written by Italian journalist Marc Innaro who is also hosting the show. We begin our journey from the Siwa oasis, by the Libyan border, where the annual Sufi festival of the local berber tribes is held.

- SEPTEMBER 2007 - The new HD project about Syria has been shot in Damascus. Written by Aliya Salahuddin and featuring Qanun virtuoso Abdullah Chhadeh, the film explores the reasons behind the reciprocal misunderstandings between East and West, at a time when a more open dialogue between the two cultures is badly needed.

- JULY / AUGUST 2007 - We go to Waseda University in Tokyo, to meet legendary Japanese archaeologist Dr. Sakuji Yoshimura and discuss the latest Middle kingdom discoveries in Saqqara. Meanwhile, pre-production has started for the 2007/2008 shooting season in Egypt: a new documentary for RAI about the desert, and the first episode of a new series about contemporary archaeology

- JUNE 2007 - New Egypt Showreel online, featuring clips from EPISODES 1 to 6, including some of the new footage from Saqqara. You can watch it here.

- MAY 2007 - Filming in Egypt for the next episodes is due to resume at the end of April and continue through May.

- APRIL 2007 - The new documentary feature by Peter Mackenzie (Hippo Films) has entered post production at MWD. The project is about legendary American musician Eddie Cochran, and is scheduled for a 2007 release. Meanwhile, the new scripts for the Egypt series are being polished.

(A private meeting with His Majesty, Tutankhamun, in Thebes)

- MARCH 2007 - Episode 1 is out now! Episodes 2, 3 and 4 will be released every two weeks. (UK release is expected in Q3 2007). Production has resumed in Egypt, shooting Episode 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, taking us to Heliopolis, Saqqara, the Baharia Oasis and, once again, to Upper Egypt.

- DEC 2006 / FEB 2007 - Editing / mixing / authoring Episodes 3 and 4 of the Egypt series have been completed. The english version is now been dubbed for the first international edition (Italian), and will be translated into another 6 languages later in 2007. Our most special thanks go to Dr. Zahi Hawass, Janice Kamrin, all the archaeologists who have worked with us to make this possible, our productions partners at De Agostini and Laboratoriorosso, and our invaluable high-end post production partners in London at Molinare (Kate George and Tim Waller). Also a special thanks to Canon Italia (Lisa Maria Cocco and Mose Franchi) for supplying the HD equipment and offering service and support.

- NOV 2006 - 'Harvesting the crops': as Episode 1 is being polished, upconverted to HDCAM for grading (at a 'secret' location somwhere in London), and mixed, Episode 2 is being scissored into a visit of the Lost Tombs of Thebes, a journey through the daily life of Ancient Egypt's common people that takes us all the way to today's Luxor.

ON LOCATION: October 2006, shooting this year's most critical 30 seconds... In Saqqara.

- OCT 2006 - Back to Egypt to finish all principal photography for this year (Phase 7). The production's sanity is rescued by Keith Stevenson (of RDK Media) on the second XL-H1 and Marco Parollo taking care of sound. Another very tough three weeks of shooting; this time it's into the Great Pyramid too.

- SEPT2006 - Filming in Egypt is due to resume by mid- September in Cairo and Luxor. The trailer for our Capoeira film is due to get its debut screening in Italy at the Milan Film Festival.

- AUG2006 - After another three weeks of shooting in Cairo (Phase 6), we are now beginning production of the third episode of the Egypt documentary series. Finally, face to face with the Golden Boy: we opened Tutankhamun's coffins and shot the legendary golden mask in all the HD glory.

- JULY2006 - We are readying our crew in preparation for the next phase of the shooting schedule in Egypt, due to resume by mid-July. A six minutes cut on the opening of the new Mummy is now online on the MWD Members page.

- JUNE2006 - shooting and editing 'MiWine 2006' for the Australian Consulate (to view a clip, click here). 'Phase 5' of our production in Egypt has also been carried out, documenting the opening of the last coffin in KV63 and the discovery of a new INTACT MUMMY in the Valley of the Nobles (pictured above, © Sandro Vannini)

- MAY2006 - End of 'Phase 4' of the Egyptian Campaign in Luxor. Filming for the Capoeira project continues in Milan, with Mestre Railson and Mestre Mao Branca.

- APRIL2006 - Preproduction in Porto Seguro, Bahia for the new Capoeira project. Filming in Standard Definition in Arraial d'Ajuda and Salvador. First 5-minutes cut of the Brazilian footage is delivered just after Easter. Filming in Egypt resumes in Cairo and Luxor.

ON LOCATION: February 2006, test-driving Canon's latest High Definition equipment in Thebes.

- FEB2006 - Shooting 'Phase 2' of the operation in Egypt has been completed, The new HD footage is being logged: plays back flawlessly at full screen on the 23" HD monitor. Outstanding leap forward from 720 x576.

- JAN2006 - more test footage has been shot for the new 'Brazil' project. This time, all the test have been carried out in Italy using exclusively HD cameras and lenses.

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