Based in Asia. Filming the World.

In May 2006, Mt. Merapi, a.k.a. The Mountain of Fire in central Java, was living up to its reputation as one of the most active volcanoes on planet earth.

Vulcanologists, scientists, media and the people of Indonesia all watched the mountain nervously as it theatrically streamed molten lava and hurled dust and debris into the atmosphere.

A small production team representing Discovery Channel Canada travelled to the central city of Yogyakarta to make a television film about the reality of daily life for the simple villagers and farmers who lived in the potentially lethal shadow of the mountain.

For five days the film team documented life in the villages, markets and schools, including being taken part way up Mt Merapi by Mbah Maridjan, the venerable and mystical "Keeper of the Mountain".  

On the last day of filming, the crew were actually rolling tape at the base of the mountain when a massive earthquake of 6.2 magnitude struck the region, devastating entire villages, created a mass panic evacuation from Yogyakarta and ultimately killing more than 6,200 people. With more than five million people living within 50 kms of the epicenter, almost 1.5 million local residents were left shocked and homeless when the dust finally subsided.

The camera crew spent almost 12 hours documenting the deadly consequence of this cataclysmic event before then driving 13 hours overnight to Jakarta to try and fly their video tapes back to Canada for rapid editing and post production.

Exactly seven days later a spectacular 1 hour HD documentary entitled Panic in the Ring of Fire went to air in Canada and the USA in anticipation of world wide programme sales. The final shoot-to-broadcast ratio of material was a very economical 11:1.

After the programme went to air, the team had extensive exposure globally from the articles that cameraman Laurie K. Gilbert wrote for film and television production magazines.