Peter von Puttkamer

Peter von Puttkamer was born "Baron Marc Peter von Puttkamer", in Bonn, Germany in 1957. His parents, Baron Jesco Gunther Heinrich von Puttkamer and Delia von Puttkamer emigrated to Canada in 1958, where they settled and raised Peter and his sister Carina.

Early years

Baron Jesco von Puttkamer created a landmark, environmentally-conscious resort named Paradise Valley, along the banks of the Cheakamus River, near Squamish, British Columbia. Through his father’s positive relationships with native peoples, Peter was introduced to First Nations/Native American culture at an early age. So began a lifelong fascination and collaboration with the native peoples of the Pacific Northwest and… eventually native groups throughout North and South America.

After the death of his father in 1969, Peter began to take an interest in photography and eventually filmmaking; producing several Super 8mm films throughout highschool.

Education

Peter attended the University of British Columbia where he studied English Honours and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Film and Television. It was here he met his wife Sheera who continues to work closely with him, producing award-winning documentary films, more than 25 years laterFact|date=June 2007.

Career

Formed with his wife & partner in 1983, [http://www.gryphonproductions.com/ Gryphon Productions Ltd.] has created hundreds of independent documentaries and programs produced for television. Their work with Native Americans on important social-issue films have impacted native peoples at home and around the world.

Gryphon Productions has produced series and specials for The History Channel, The Learning Channel (TLC), Animal Planet, Discovery Channel Europe/International, Discovery HD Theater, Discovery Canada, GLOBAL-TV, C.B.C., CTV, and various Canadian specialty channels. These programs have won more than 70 international awardsFact|date=June 2007. Peter von Puttkamer’s fascination with indigenous peoples, anthropology, archaeology, mythology, music and wildlife has led to work around the world. Whether working on heart-felt personal stories, socio-political issues or broad adventure-based entertainment documentaries, filmmaking for von Puttkamer has always been a blend of mind, body and spirit. Peter climbed through ancient caves used for human sacrifice in Mexico, filmed then eaten giant 12” tarantulas with Venezuelan blow-gun hunters, filmed sacred mask rituals and dances of North American natives, recorded soul music classics with legendary recording artists, worked with AIDS survivors, chased Caribou herds on the Arctic Circle, joined a hunt for Bigfoot and documented the heart-rending tales of terminally-ill patients.Fact|date=June 2007 His films have been specially selected for Festivals and retrospectives in Italy and Brazil. Gryphon films/series for TLC/Discovery Channel/CTV such as “Sasquatch Odyssey” and “Monster Hunters” have dealt with the strange world of cryptozoology. “Sasquatch Odyssey: The Hunt for Bigfoot” won several awards and was selected for the prestigious 1999 IDA Doctober Festival screenings in Los Angeles- qualifying it for Academy Award nomination. “Monster Hunters” produced for TLC screened at the New York International Independent Film Festival in New York and LA and has won 2 Platinum Awards at the 2002 Worldfest Houston. In 2003-04, Gryphon created & wrote/directed/co-produced an 8 hour, 24 segment series “Beyond Invention” for Discovery Channel Canada, also airing on Discovery Science Channel in May-June, 2007. In 2006, Sheera von Puttkamer (Producer) and Peter von Puttkamer produced/directed a Television Special for Sony Pictures (Columbia/Tristar) “MONSTER HOUSE” (a Steven Spielberg/Robert ZemeckisProduction); the documentary-- “Domus Mactabilis: Real Monster Houses” looked at spirit-possessed homes in England and America and the families who live in them.

Winner of 3 American Indian Film Festival Awards Fact|date=June 2007 fact, Peter von Puttkamer’s Native Indian films have had a major social, cultural and political impactFact|date=June 2007. Gryphon is currently producing a major First Nations cultural “Theatrical” film for permanent display in the Squamish-Lil’wat Cultural Center being built for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Whistler, B.C..

Peter is currently producing/developing Feature Documentaries Specials and series for Animal Planet, History Channel and Sony Pictures.

Gryphon Productions’ 2 Hr. Special “ [http://www.gryphonproductions.com/thereallostworld/flash_content/flash_content.html The Real Lost World] ” about the search for Arthur Conan Doyle’s “Lost World” in Venezuela, aired on Animal Planet & Discovery HD Theater in December 2006. The expedition resulted in the discovery of a new type of microbial life growing on the walls of caves at the top of the 9000’ “Lost World” plateau. A follow up trip by a NASA-funded scientific team is planned. Von Puttkamer is the first to connect the legends of Native Indians of the area, with the writings of Arthur Conan Doyle: the creation of the “The Lost World” which inspired every movie from King Kong to Godzilla and Jurassic Park.

Airing in 2007 is “Peyote to LSD: A Psychedelic Odyssey”, a 2 Hr. Special shot in the Amazon and 5 countries, for The History Channel. The program is co-written and hosted by National Geographic Explorer in Residence Wade Davis who describes the life of famed Harvard plant-explorer Richard Evans Schultes. The program reveals how Schultes' discoveries of hallucinogens amongst native Indians of the Americas, inadvertently helped spark the psychedelic era; the program also features Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir and Dr. Andrew Weil.

References

*cite web |url=http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/filmography.html?p_id=296004&mod=films |title=New York Times |accessdate=2007-06-04 |format= |work=
*cite web |url=http://www.coasttocoastam.com/guests/220.html |title=Coast To Coast |accessdate=2007-06-04 |format= |work=
*cite web |url=http://www.wolfmanproductions.com/puttkamer.html |title=Wolfman Productions |accessdate=2007-06-04 |format= |work=

External links

* [http://www.gryphonproductions.com Official Website]
* [http://imdb.com/name/nm1078394 IMDb Profile]