Terra Mater’s Walter Köhler

After a storied three decades at ORF, Walter Köhler founded Terra Mater Factual Studios (TMFS) to further his passionate commitment to high-end documentary filmmaking. From activism feature films like The Ivory Game to specials with natural-history icon David Attenborough to ambitious science docs like The Moon: Our Gateway to the Universe, TMFS has been serving the documentary needs of broadcasters and platforms across the globe. Köhler talks about the company’s recent distribution partnership with Off the Fence, the new film Sea of Shadows and the significance of delivering films that speak to the importance of conservation.

TV REAL: What was the reasoning behind your new distribution partnership with Off the Fence?
KÖHLER: This was a logical step in our development. I always took the word “studio” in Terra Mater Factual Studios very seriously. We want to protect our content from the cradle to the grave. But in nine years, we produced more than 220 hours of prime content! Dinah [Czezik-Müller, Terra Mater’s COO] and I talked a lot about if we should build up our own distribution business. The figures routed us in the other direction. Ellen [Windemuth, CEO and founder of Off the Fence] and I are age-old friends. We knew each other before Off the Fence was a reality. So this was a natural fit. It’s amazing that the corporate cultures in our two companies are really similar. So Ellen is doing all of our post-sale business and we are doing all the co-productions and presales. We are good at production. This is where our heart is. Therefore, to have a partner in distribution is a natural fit. Then there is the German team coming on top with ZDF Enterprises [Off the Fence’s new parent company]. That’s quite helpful! [Laughs]

TV REAL: Tell us about your investment in conservation docs such as Sea of Shadows, about the endangered vaquita whale in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez.
KÖHLER: I’ve been in this business for more than 30 years. I’ve lived a good life on natural history. My feeling is that it’s time to give a bit back. The first attempt was The Ivory Game, where, from the start, we not only wanted to produce a film—we wanted to change politics with the power of film. We achieved that. With Sea of Shadows, we wanted to do the same, but [go further]. Where Ivory Game was about a species, Sea of Shadows is on a whole ecosystem. It was a thousand times more dangerous [to film]. It’s really hard to accept that the smallest whale on the planet is dying out, five hours away from Los Angeles [in the Sea of Cortez]. It’s not somewhere in the jungle. It’s one of the busiest tourist spots. We also wanted to show that it’s not only the conservation of animals; it’s also the conservation of humans. What the Chinese Mafia and the drug cartels are doing there [supporting poachers] is destroying the local economy, too. One of the main protagonists [in the documentary, Carlos Loret de Mola], who is a renowned journalist in Mexico, made a live [broadcast about the vaquita crisis] and 30 minutes later, the new minister of the environment called and said, You have pictures of the vaquita? We were going to declare it extinct! If they declare it extinct, they don’t have to do anything. We said, This film is coming out in Mexico, so you better search for a solution. Otherwise, you have a problem. This worked. They are now searching for [solutions].

TV REAL: There are so many threats to the environment. How do you and your team figure out which ones you want to tackle in your films?
KÖHLER: On the vaquita, it was simple because it’s one of the first mammals to go extinct now. And it’s not just for the animal; it’s for the whole Sea of Cortez. If this goes, you cannot count the number of species that will go. And this will have a significant impact on biodiversity. We also invested in Watson, our newest film with Participant Media on the founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Paul Watson. He says the same thing. At the moment, the overfishing rate is so enormous that we have to think about whether we can live on a planet without fish. He thinks this is quite impossible. If a whole group is missing in the food chain, the biodiversity rules will go against us. We have to think about this.