Biography
Russ Pariseau
Filmmaker
Totnes, Devon
England
The Bio, short version
The projects that keep me working:
Nepal Ambulance Service… the very first professional organization to provide properly equipped ambulances and clinically trained emergency medical technicians to Nepal. Initially launched in Kathmandu the service now also operates in Chitwan, Pokhara and Butwal.
Moving Beyond Violence… an Israeli-Palestinian conflict resolution program led by a group of international psychotherapists
HECAF… Health Care Foundation Nepal’s pioneering health care waste management program that uses an appropriate technology approach to recycle up to 80% of hospital and rural health clinic waste generated throughout the developing world.
Local community projects in Totnes,
In New York I was partner from 1985 to 1990 in Pariseau/Edwards Communications, Inc., a full-service production studio serving a variety of clients including advertising agencies, public relations firms, Fortune 500 corporations, CARE International and various United Nations Agencies.
For Harvard Medical School I produced Advanced Tibetan Meditation: The Investigations of Herbert Benson MD, a scientific inquiry into the physiology of meditation.
Prior to my association with Pariseau/ Edwards I was a member of I.A.T.S.E. camera local 644 and worked as a freelance director/cameraman (1977 -1985) and on staff at The Thomas Craven Film Corporation (1972-1977). At Craven Films I produced and directed The Toughest Job You’ll Ever Love – a recruiting campaign for the US Peace Corps still running today. Other clients included the National Geographic Society and many U.S. Government agencies and branches of the military.
In Ecuador, from 1991 to 1993, I managed IMàGICA Producciones, a full-service production house in Quito serving major ad agencies, corporations, and UN agencies. In addition, on a part time basis, I taught advertising and video production at Universidad San Francisco de Quito, in the College of Communications Arts.
From October 1993 until September 1995 I worked as a regional consultant (based in Burundi) for ESARO, Unicef’s Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office, Nairobi. I produced Healing Invisible Wounds, a video documentary of a Unicef campaign to reunite children with their families or to find foster homes for children orphaned as a result of inter-communal violence in Burundi.
From September 1995 to July 1998 I freelanced as video producer in Antananarivo, Madagascar where I introduced digital video into the local production scene. I worked extensively with local advertising agencies, the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust, and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
From July 1998 to September 2003 I returned to New York City and worked as a freelance video producer, video editor, and graphic designer for clients such as The Mind/Body Medical Institute, Netaid, Intuitive Images, Wisdom TV, and The Wilmorite Corporation.
From September 2003 until March 2006 I lived and worked in Bamako, Mali where I edited Mamadou’s Cissé’s feature film “Wasaden” (Les Elus) for inclusion in FESPACO 2005, the West African bi-annual film festival in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. I also produced promotional video for World Education/Mali and regularly delivered catalogue photography for Mia Mali Designs, an international exporter of African jewelry and handcrafts.
From May 2006 to Augist 2010 I lived in Kathmandu. I contributed to or created public awareness campaigns for the National Society for Earthquake Technology - Nepal, the National Kidney Center, Health Care Foundation-Nepal, the Ted Worcester/Yangdzom Healing Hands Foundation, the Support to the Safe Motherhood Programme, the World Food Programme–Nepal, Unicef Regional Office for South Asia, Nepal Cycling Association, Nepal Tourism Board, the World Health Organization, and Merlin Medical Relief–Nepal.
In August 2010, my wife Frances and I retired to the UK and settled in quirky avant- guard town of Totnes.
My work has been represented in numerous film festivals accumulated various awards:
The Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival 2009 and again in 2014
The Arusha Film Festival, Best Documentary 2014
The Mendocino Film Festival 2008
FESPACO 2005
John Muir International Medical Film Festival, Gold Award, First Place
New York International Film and TV Festival, Gold Medal
Virgin Islands Film Festival, Gold Medal
C.I.N.E. Golden Eagle (twice)