Jeremy Curl

Last updated

Jeremy Curl
Occupation(s)explorer,
photographer,
filmmaker,
writer
Website jeremycurl.com

Jeremy Robert Patrick Curl is an Anglo-Irish explorer, writer, filmmaker and photographer.

Contents

Biography

Curl was born in Tokyo to English and Irish parents and educated at Charterhouse [1] in Surrey, where he won an art scholarship and subsequently attended the University of Utrecht [2] and Lund University, where he read History.

Curl worked briefly at the British Museum, London, in the Ancient Egyptology department alongside renowned Egyptologist Vivien Davies where he learnt to read Egyptian hieroglyphs and awakened his love for ancient and enigmatic cultures. He has travelled widely in Africa and Asia and has worked with statesmen and artists alike, from being photographer to Cuban laureate Pablo Armando Fernández to filmmaker to the President of Latvia. While in Cuba he interviewed the Castro family about Cuba's political future. Curl has exhibited his expedition photographs widely, including alongside Nelson Mandela in 2010. In 2013 he was presented with an award for excellence in travel by Crown Prince Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum of Dubai. [3]

Film

Curl wrote and directed the feature film The Highest Brasil [4] [5] . A dark comedy about a fisherman trying to get to a bizarre utopia [6] , the movie was produced by Irish production company Brendan Films [7] and distributed worldwide by Freestyle Releasing [8] part of the Allen Media Group based in Los Angeles. MovieMaker named Curl one of the year's top screenwriters to watch [9] .

Promoted by the Consulate General of Ireland [10] , The Highest Brasil premiered at the 30th Austin Film Festival in 2023 where it was nominated for the Jury Award for Best Feature [11] . Released on AppleTV in 2024 the film received positive reviews. Film Ireland called the film "provocative and memorable," with Nerds That Geek saying the film was "incredibly brilliant, with powerhouse moments that will shock you." [12] HyperReal Film Club labelled The Highest Brasil a "statement of doom with a strong sense of dark comedy." [13]

Saharan exploration

In 2008 he became the first non-African to cross the Tanezrouft area of the Sahara without motorized transport [14] [15] During his time in the desert he lived with the Touareg nomads, travelling with the tribes of the Kel Ahaggar and Kel Ifoghas, witnessing their threatened lifestyle first hand. While in the Sahara he crossed the 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometres) on foot and by camel from the Hoggar mountains in Algeria to Timbuktu in Mali, reaching the city in only 50 days. He has published articles about his findings and experiences and written a basic dictionary of Tamasheq, the language of the Touareg. He was nominated for a Rolex Award for Exploration and Discovery in 2009.

Transnistria

In 2009 Curl spent time in Transnistria, officially the Pridnestrovian Moldovan Republic, a Leninist post-Soviet frozen conflict zone between the Ukraine and Moldova [16] . A socialist state that borrows from the Soviet model, Transnistria is a police state of 400,000 inhabitants. Although unrecognised as a sovereign nation by any UN country, Transnistria produces its own passports, currency and stamps and runs its own police force and army. Curl returned having photographed scenes previously unseen outside the republic.

Lower Omo River Valley

In 2010, Curl crossed the western side of the Omo River Valley in southwest Ethiopia from Dima across tribal lands southwards towards Kenya. He passed through the western Surma tribal lands, through the lands of the Bench, Dizi and Nyangatom tribes finishing on the eastern side of the Omo in the lands of the Hamer. Curl travelled with tribal escorts and scouts, changing companions from tribe to tribe, most of whom are cut off from outside influence and still continue a very traditional way of life. Curl encountered people who had never seen white men and is one of a handful of Westerners to travel across this land on foot where tribal conflict is frequent.

East Africa

2010 saw Curl travel with the Rendille tribe in northern Kenya, using camels to cross the Kaisut Plain, the Ndoto Mountains and the Karoli desert [17] . There he encountered the people of the Pokot, Samburu, Gabra and Turkana tribes. Later in the year, Curl with anthropologist Luke Glowacki from Harvard University carried out an expedition across the Danakil Depression, a volcanic desert in Ethiopia often called 'the cruellest place on Earth' and home to the Afar people. [18] It is the hottest place on Earth, with temperatures in the Danakil have been known to pass 60 degrees Celsius. Curl and Glowacki walked the ridge of volcanoes southwards, using camels to transport their water and provisions.

Other interests

As a film director Curl has won the Horror Film Festival, the Netherlands (2002). He is also a published cryptographer having contributed to academic journals internationally including the journal Eidos. Curl is a keen landscape painter.

Books

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tuareg people</span> Berber confederation of the Sahara desert

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilfred Thesiger</span> British military officer, explorer, and writer.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sahrawis</span> People living in the western Sahara desert

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afar people</span> Cushitic ethnic group native to the Horn of Africa

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References

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  2. "'As a student, you should try everything at least once' | DUB". dub.uu.nl. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  3. "DUBAI TRAVELERS FESTIVAL 2013 - Best festival". YouTube. 11 July 2014. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
  4. Curl, Jeremy (2 August 2024), The Highest Brasil (Drama), Ger Staunton, Jennifer Breslin, Stephen Doring, Brendan Films, retrieved 10 September 2024
  5. MacConnell, Eoghan (26 June 2024). "Dublin premiere for Laois resident's first feature film". www.leinsterexpress.ie. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  6. Curl, Jeremy (2 August 2024), The Highest Brasil (Drama), Ger Staunton, Jennifer Breslin, Stephen Doring, Brendan Films, retrieved 10 September 2024
  7. "Review: The Highest Brasil – Film Ireland Magazine". 8 August 2024. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  8. "The Highest Brasil". Freestyle Digital Media. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
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  10. "2023 Austin Film Festival & Writers Conference: The Highest Brasil". 2023austinfilmfestival.sched.com. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  11. Garcia, Ally (4 October 2023). "AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2023 COMPETITION FILMS". Austin Film Festival. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  12. "Austin Film Festival Movie Review: 'The Highest Brasil'". Nerds That Geek. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  13. "The Highest Brasil Review". Hyperreal Film Club. 25 February 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  14. Country Life Magazine, 17 September 2008
  15. Wanderlust, Team (1 October 2008). "'I crossed the Sahara by camel'". Wanderlust. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  16. "Jeremy Curl - VJ Grad and Adventure Filmmaker". TheVJ.com. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  17. Moss, Tim (4 June 2012). "How To Buy A Camel". The Next Challenge. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  18. "Declination: Walking Across the World's Hottest Desert | adventure journal". Archived from the original on 11 October 2014. Retrieved 21 June 2015.