Out and down there you're nothing without a team


Since 15 years we have been participating in the production of numerous documentaries, mainly on topics in the natural history and environmental field. We are grateful for the collaboration with many highly professional colleagues and friends. There is our friend Wolf Wichmann, a geologist and science writer, who especially in the beginning, and with the first big production, was the best diving compagnion an under water cameraman could have. Also many helpful discussions and hints came from the ’Cape Horn Team 2000’. In a very intense internship at the First German Television/Bavarian Television (BR, Munich) I learned the hard business of getting the images from the wild onto screen and to the people, sometimes under high time pressure. I have been enjoying working with Sigurd Tesche (Tesche Dokumentarfilm) under the vulcano and the topics beyond. I’m especially pleased to collaborate with so highly skilled under water cameramen as Richard Fitzpatrick (Digital Dimensions, Australia) and Sigi Braun (Füssen, Allgäu).
Our success would not be possible without our friend Florian Guthknecht a young internationally honoured filmmaker, with whom we had and continue to have the most fruitful cooperation in productions we do worldwide.
The best of all is the home base to start from, to work at and to come back to: our field station on the Island of Elba with its dedicated team of biologists, divers and above all friends.
Thank you all!

Christian

 

 

recent productions

Das Rätsel der Monte Cervantes / Lost at Cape Horn I + II

D/F, 2001, 45 min., ARTE/ZDF/Spiegel TV
(int’l version 2 x 52 min)
Tauchgang am Ende der Welt
story: Marc Brasse (Spiegel TV)/Matthias Kopfmüller (Greenscreen)
author: Marc Brasse (Spiegel TV)
topside camera: Bernd Zühlke
under water camera: Sascha Kellersohn, Christian Lott (HYDRA)

 

Landscape portraits - Tuscan Islands I: Giglio, Giannutri, Montecristo, Pianosa
Bilder einer Landschaft - Toskanische Inseln I: Giglio, Giannutri, Montecristo, Pianosa

D, 2001, 43 min., BR
story: Florian Guthknecht/Christian Lott
author/producer: Florian Guthknecht
topside camera: Wolfgang Seif
under water camera: Christian Lott (HYDRA)

 

Il Parco del Grande Mare

I, 2001, 50 min., TECNO77, Rome
for National Park Authority Tuscan Archipelago
author/producer: Carlo Pinelli
topside camera: Enrico Pergolini, Alessandro Ojetti
under water camera: Christian Lott (HYDRA)

 

Montecristo and Pianosa: Islands for Sale?
Montecristo und Pianosa: Inseln im Ausverkauf?

D, 2002, 30 min., BR, Magazine "Kompass"
story: Florian Guthknecht/Christian Lott
author/producer: Florian Guthknecht
topside camera: Wolfgang Seif
under water camera/aerials: Christian Lott (HYDRA)

 

Quallen – Schreckliche Schönheiten
La Meduse – Belle, cruelle, mortelle
Jelly fish – a lethal beauty

D/F, 2005/6, 45 min., ARTE/BR
story: Florian Guthknecht, Christian Lott (HYDRA)
author/producer: Florian Guthknecht
topside camera: Klaus Axthammer, Richard Fitzpatrick
under water camera: Christian Lott (HYDRA), Sigi Braun, Richard Fitzpatrick

awards:
Palme d’Or and Prix du Président de la Republique, Festival d’Image Sous-Marin, Antibes, France 2005
Bronze medal 18th NATURALE film festival, Germany, 2005
Nomination Mountain and Adventure Film Festival, Graz, Austria, 2005
Best Wildlife Film, category: best under water film, Festival Albert, France, 2006
Winner “Solunto d’Oro”, Solunto Film Festival, Palermo, Italy, 2006
Invited Feature, Ocean Fest, San Francisco, USA, 2006
Invited Feature, 5th Celebrate the Sea Festival @ ADEX, Singapore, 2006
Nomination and featured tour film, CSIRO Festival of Science Film, SCINEMA 08, Australia, 2008
Special Prize of the Jury, Matsalu Film Festival, Estonia, 2008

  

Seasnakes - gentle but lethal
Das Rätsel der Seeschlangen

D, 2005, 30 min., BR
story: Florian Guthknecht, Christian Lott (HYDRA)
author/producer: Florian Guthknecht
topside camera: Richard Fitzpatrick, Christian Lott (HYDRA)
under water camera: Christian Lott (HYDRA), Richard Fitzpatrick

 

Four Seasons of a Lake
Vier Jahreszeiten eines Sees
Les quattre saisons d'un lac

D/F, 2006, 45 min., ARTE/BR
author: Florian Guthknecht
topside camera: Christoph Castor, Klaus Axthammer
under water camera: Sigi Braun, Christian Lott (HYDRA)

 awards:
“Best Film”, Prix du Documentaire Animalier, Festival d’Image Sous-Marin, Antibes, France 2006
2. Prize, category: best camera, Golden Dolphin Film Festival, Moscow, Russia, 2007
Nomination, Festival du Film Nature, Namur, Belgie, 2008
Grand Prix (Best of all categories), XXIII Festival of Diving Films, Medzinárodného Festivalu Potápačských Filmov, High Tatras, Slovakia, 2008

 

Revolution at the Reef, part I: Hope for the Coral; Revolution at the Reef, part II: Hope for the Fish
Revolution am Riff (1): Hoffnung für die Korallen; Revolution am Riff (2): Hoffnung für die Fische
La battaille du corail (1) - Les sentinelles de la Gande Barrière; La battaille du corail (2) - Mobilisation pour les poissons

D/F, 2006, 2 x 45/52 min., ARTE/BR
story: Florian Guthknecht, Christian Lott
author: Florian Guthknecht
topside camera: Athol Foster, Richard Fitzpatrick, Christian Lott (HYDRA), Christian Redinger
under water camera: Richard Fitzpatrick, Christian Lott (HYDRA), Ron and Valerie Taylor

awards:
Prix Information Actualité, Festival d’Image Sous-Marin, Antibes, France 2006
“Best under water camera”, Special award, category: Worlds under water, 20th NATURALE film festival, Germany, 2007

 

 

Baitcam
Köderkamera

D, 2005, 7 min., magazine, ARD/BR
author: Florian Guthknecht
camera: Christian Lott (HYDRA)

 

Spiny Gold
Stacheliges Gold

D, 2005, 7 min., magazine, ARD/BR
author: Florian Guthknecht
camera: Christian Lott (HYDRA)

 

REEF HQ - The Biggest Reef Aquarium
Das größte Riffaquarium 

D, 2005, 7 min., magazine, ARD/BR
author: Florian Guthknecht
camera: Christian Lott (HYDRA)

 

 

Eternal Youth from the Reef?
Ewige Jugend aus dem Riff?

D, 2005, 7 min., magazine, ARD/BR
author: Florian Guthknecht
camera: Christian Lott (HYDRA)

 

 

Lord Howe Phasmid - The rarest Insect on Earth
Phasmid - das seltenste Insekt der Welt

D, 2006, 7 min., magazine, ARD/BR
author: Florian Guthknecht
camera: Christian Lott (HYDRA)


 

Landscape Portraits - Tuscan Islands II: Elba
Bilder einer Landschaft - Toskanische Inseln II: Elba

D, 2006, 43 min., ARD/BR
author: Florian Guthknecht
camera: Sorin Dragoi
u/w camera: Christian Lott (HYDRA)

The King of the Bees
Der Bienenkönig von Elba

D, 2007, 8 min., magazine, ARD/BR
author: Florian Guthknecht
camera: Sorin Dragoi, Christian Lott (HYDRA)
 

The Sharks from Coburg
Die Haie von Coburg, VOX Tierzeit

D, 2007, 45 min., magazine, VOX
presenter: Dirk Steffens
author: Friederike Schmidt-Vogt
camera: Patrick “Pepe” Brandt
u/w camera: Christian Lott (HYDRA)
on-site logistics: Boris Unger (HYDRA)

Environmental Elba
Umwelt Elbas

ZDF Umwelt Toskana
D, 2008, 6 min., magazine, ZDF
presenter: Mara Bergmann
author: Michael Wiedemann
u/w camera: Christian Lott (HYDRA)
on-site logistics: Boris Unger and Andrea Werner (HYDRA)

 

special:

presenter u/w, with full-face mask communication system, generously provided by
Unterwasser-Moderation, UW-Sprecheinrichtung dankenswerterweise zur Verfügung gestellt von