BIO | Teresa Carante

I am a documentary cinematographer passionate about natural history and wildlife stories. I love capturing moments of connection between humans and nature, reminding audiences about the beauty and wonders of this planet.

My eight years of experience working in the camera department gifted me with incredible experiences across the world. From filming with Aboriginal elders and dingoes in Australia, to living with a retired nurse sharing her house with five pet crocodiles in Melbourne, to filming undercover endangered Asian pangolins in Northern Vietnam and filming aboard an anti-whaling ship filled with environmentalists in the North Pacific, I am constantly learning and broadening my mind with new point of views.

I have recently started working as topside DP for organisations such as National Geographic Pristine Seas and Neptune Pirates (The Paul Watson Foundation) fostering my passion for ocean conservation.

Through my company, Around Land & Sea LLC, I also pitch and work on personal indie documentary projects. Today I am working on my short documentary "Underwater Criminal Investigator" for which I won the 2024 Fresh Perspectives in Cinematography Grant, an AbelCine cinematographer’s grant program in partnership with ARRI and the ASC.

My previous short, The Awakening of the Vietnamese Elephant, received an Honorable Mention at the Jackson Wild Media Awards 2022. Thanks to this film I was selected as one of nine wildlife cinematographers from across the world to participate at the 2022 Jackson Wild Cinematography Lab that took place in Austria in the last week of September. The lab was organised in partnership with The American Society of Cinematographers, with Paul Atkins and Stephen Lighthill as mentors. An experience that helped me refine my techniques and skill sets pushing my creative boundaries. I than got accepted into the ASC Vision Mentorship Program 2023-2024 receiving mentorship from Rodney Taylor, ASC.

In Vietnam I filmed short documentaries for Fight Dog Meat and Animals Asia raising awareness around the work they do protecting animals in the country. While freelancing as a cinematographer for RICE Content & Media, I got the opportunity to DP VICE NEWS's documentary web series Inside the Global Underground Wildlife Trafficking Market, covering the segment in Vietnam.

In Australia I directed and filmed Mother Crocodile, a 52-minute documentary made possible thanks to the ABC development fundings and the Documentary Australia Foundation's support.

I also produced, directed, filmed and edited Through Their Eyes, a mini-doc series highlighting the bond between six humans and six animal species across Australia. The series is available on Qantas inflight entertainment and DocPlay online streaming platform.

Born a traveller, I lived in 12 countries, achieved a MA in Social Anthropology and learned to speak different languages. With a very adaptable, resilient and open-minded predisposition, I am now based in Washington DC freelancing as a documentary cinematographer across the world.