Painted dog packs rely on teamwork
ABOUT US
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Who We Are
Filmmaking, conservation and technology
Founded in January 2019 by the complementary duo of Brent Leo-Smith and Wium Dörnbrack, Painteddog.tv is a technology-driven wildlife and conservation film production company, and organiser of life-changing safari.
Brent and Wium’s over 30 years of combined safari, conservation, and film-making experience has helped them guide Painteddog.tv to achieving some remarkable feats in a surprisingly short time.
After having established the Painteddog.tv as wildlife documentary film-makers and the “go-to” wildlife media film-crew in South Africa’s Lowveld region during 2019, in 2020 the company developed unique live broadcast capabilities which allowed us to achieve the following world firsts during that year:
- Live elephant collaring in the Greater Kruger National Park
- Live rescued painted dogs release into a protected reserve
- Live painted dog collaring in the Greater Kruger National Park
- Private & corporate live virtual safaris in the Greater Kruger National Park
- 24 hour live-streaming wild hyena den camera
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our team
THE PEOPLE THAT KEEP PAINTEDDOGTV ALIVE AND GROWING
Brent Leo-Smith
CEO & Co-founder
Having grown up in the KwaZulu-Natal hinterland of South Africa, Brent Leo-Smith knew that a career in the bush was inevitable. He was home schooled at Phinda Game Reserve and a result is a real “wild child”.
He then tried his hand at studying law, but the bush called him back, resulting in six months in Zambia doing crocodile and big game capture, and running game farms. Brent returned to his then home in Botswana and worked for his father at Kwando Safaris, before making the move to the Kruger National Park to take up a position as a guide at the Lebombo Concession. Later, he went to work at Londolozi Game Reserve as a guide and camp manager.
In 2010, Brent began work in film production, both behind and in-front of camera, having featured on Animal Planet and Nat Geo Wild, where he presented over fifty episodes of the #SafariLive series. In 2019, he co-founded Painteddog TV, a technology driven wildlife and conservation media company.
Wium Dörnbrack
CTO, COO, & Co-founder
Wium grew up in Pretoria and spent his childhood holidays exploring South Africa’s wild areas with his family. Wium began his filming career as a cameraman for the South African Broadcasting Commission from 2008-14, where he filmed sport and news events.
He was also a part of the team that installed over 110km of fibre optic and coaxial cable into South Africa’s soccer stadiums for the broadcasting of the 2010 World Cup.
In 2014 Wium became a member of the world famous WildEarth production team, where not only was he an excellent cameraman, but more importantly also a broadcast engineer designing and building broadcasting systems, including outside broadcast units onboard 4×4 safari vehicles.
Charles Collocott
CFO
Charles grew up in Botswana, where weekends and holidays away with the family were often spent exploring the Makgadikgadi Basin, the Central Kalahari, and the Okavango Delta.
After moving to South Africa as a teen, Charles graduated with a bachelor’s degree in politics, philosophy and economics from the University of Cape Town.
He then went on to become a stockbroker, during which he also passed all three levels of the rigorous Chartered Financial Analyst exams. After 8 years in financial markets, Charles spent four years as an economic policy analyst at the renowned South African civil society group, the Helen Suzman Foundation. Charles joined Painteddog.tv in February 2019.
Yuka Ota
Presenter & Guide
Yuka is from Japan and always dreamed of working in the wildlife conservation field.
When she came to Africa for the first time she instantly fell in love with the bush, and decided to pursue a career as field guide to try and help spread conservation awareness to Japan.
Yuka has a bachelor’s degree in tourism from Japan’s Rikkyo University, completed a full-year EcoTraining safari guide training course in 2015 and is a fully qualified lead trails guide.
Prior to joining Painteddog.tv in July 2020, Yuka worked at Forest Camp Lodge and African Impact.
Matthew Gie
Director of Photography
Born and raised in Cape Town, Matthew has tinkered with film since he was in school. He started live streaming school sport in 2015 and has grown his trade since then.
After school he worked as a gimbal tech in aerial cinematography, high-end advertising and on the live international sports scene.
He has also had a few gigs as camera operator for local TV. Matthew joined us in March 2021 and this is his first wildlife gig. We are excited for what he brings to the team.
Bryan Joubert
Lead Editor & Camera Operator
Bryan grew up in the suburbs of Johannesburg, but while navigating his way through the concrete jungle, an opportunity to film meerkats in the Southern Kalahari presented itself, and being immersed in nature completely captivated him.
Bryan studied 3D animation at Boston Media House, and before joining Painteddog.tv was a wildlife cameraperson at WildEarth for 5 years from 2012 to 2017. Bryan joined Painteddog.tv in June 2020.