Food Matters Documentary

Sunshine Coast documentary producers cracking international market

Food Matters, a documentary about nutrition, health and wellbeing, produced by Sunshine Coast couple James Colquhourn and Laurentine ten Bosch, has justcracked 100,000 sales and is now airing in more than 30 countries worldwide.The film, which was launched just 18 months ago, has been shown on Canal+, aFrench broadcaster who dubbed the film in French and broadcast the title through27 countries, as well as Noga from Israel. It will premier on the Rialto Channel inNew Zealand in February and has also been included in the in-flight entertainmenton Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand.

Food Matters, which operates from the University of the Sunshine Coast'sInnovation Centre, is now also partnering with other filmmakers, distributing othernutrition, wellbeing and sustainable living films because of the demand forinformation in this area.

Producer and Director James Colquhourn said they developed the documentaryafter watching his father struggle with Chronic Fatigue, Depression and Anxiety."It was clear that the conventional 'drug based' approach was not working for him,as it doesn't for many people, and he needed a different angle of attack. Westudied all that we could and encouraged him to read many books but it just wasn'tgetting through," James said.

"That was when we decided to create a film that offered a multi-media learningapproach and delivered everything in a quick and concise fashion. After watchingthe footage he starting implementing healthier lifestyle changes straight away, andhis health rebounded completely and he withdrew from all his other medicationswithout any side effects," he said.

"What we learned throughout this journey was so astounding that we wanted toshare it with others, so Food Matters was born."

Producer and Director Laurentine ten Bosch said the success of the film had beenfantastic but that they had a busy year ahead with the film recently launched intothe North American retail market.

"The film is now available in the US through Amazon, Barnes and Nobel, Borders,Blockbuster and NetFlix and we are excited that the film has made such a largeimpact in North America and Canada as it had been one of our goals to see thefilm do well over there," Laurentine said.

Innovation Centre entrepreneur-in-residence Nigel Hall said the success James and Laurentine andFood Matters had experienced could be just the beginning for them.

"They saw a need, learned new skills and created a product for which there is a strong demand," Nigelsaid.

"Now through careful business planning, they are further developing that niche and branching out intothe distribution of other similar products. This is just the type of entrepreneurial enterprises weencourage at the Innovation Centre."

"James said as first-time filmmakers making the documentary had been challenging. �gIt took 12 monthsfrom start to finish and far more money than expected," he said.

"We were lucky to partner with the amazing Enzo Tedeschi, our co-producer and editor. Enzo filled thegaps in our experience with regards to the technical aspects of the post production while we provided thedirection and held on for the ride!"

James said since releasing Food Maters interest in the film had continued to snowball.

"Just recently we had over 95,000 people visit our website in just one month, with more and more peoplesubscribing to our free fortnightly newsletter, which offers all the latest news and tips on nutrition andnatural healing."

To find out more about Food Matters visit www.foodmatters.tv.
For more information about theInnovation Centre Sunshine Coast visit www.innovation-centre.com.au.