Meet Filmmaker
Tom Reissman
Tom Reissmann, globe-trotting professional videographer, initially studied Tourism Management in the UK and Australia. He then spent some years working in the tourism industry as a marketing executive, traveling to South America, New Zealand and the UK. He finally found his passion about 10 years ago, when he started producing promotional videos for tourism companies. That’s when he realized he could go freelance and use videos to finance dream vacations – and he quit his day job.
Since then, Tom lived a few years in Australia traveling and producing travel videos, and spent months getting paid to film the wildlife in Tanzania and Kenya and hike Kilimanjaro. Today, he travels the continent of Europe with a luxury Mobile Home and shoots videos in the summer. He then goes to his home in the Canary Islands, where it’s warm and sunny all year round, to edit all his footage and spend his evenings and weekends surfing. And that’s when he isn’t leading overseas expeditions and workshops for Great Escape Publishing.
Tom Reissmann’s Film
The Grizzly Truth
First Nations, environmentalists, scientists and ecotourism operators are fighting a battle to ban the grizzly hunt in British Columbia, while grizzly hunting may soon become a reality in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem as grizzly bears are delisted from the Endangered Species Act. The Grizzly Truth investigates the controversy over grizzly hunting and closely scrutinizes all of the arguments brought forward by hunting organizations. It also takes a closer look at the conflict between hunters and bear viewing operations and dispels the myth of the dangerous and ferocious grizzly bear. Charlie Russell who is best known for living with grizzly bears in Russia for ten years and whose family ran a grizzly hunting outfit in Southern Alberta, argues that the myth of the dangerous and unpredictable grizzly bear is perpetuated by the hunting industry, so hunters can feel heroic in killing them. By living in a remote area, surrounded by grizzlies, similar to Timothy Treadwell, he succeeded in showing that grizzly bears are not in fact unpredictable if they find human behavior to be predictable and non-threatening. Author and former superintendent of Banff Nation Park, Kevin Van Tighem traces the origin of the myth of the ferocious grizzly and the reasons why people either see bears as lovable clowns or marauding monsters. First Nations explain the importance of grizzly bears to their culture and scientists argue that the grizzly hunt is neither sustainable nor does it create economic benefits to British Columbia, while at the same time preventing the bear viewing industry from expanding. A resolution to find a workable compromise between the two competing industries is presented with ecotourism clearly being the industry of the future by offering a non-consumptive, economic alternative to grizzly hunting whilst also educating people about the true nature of the grizzly bear.
Non-Profit supporting Bears
Grizzly Bear Foundation
Grizzly Bear Foundation is the only Canadian charitable organization dedicated solely to the welfare of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos). We work collaboratively to support the conservation of grizzly bears through research and public education. Grizzly Bear Foundation is dedicated to the long-term welfare of the grizzly bear in North America.