Compelling, character-driven narrative is at the heart of every film I make, whether long-form documentary, branded content or editorial pieces. My work is driven by creating trust and genuine connection with every protagonist I collaborate with.
OPEN OCEAN
Directed by: Nathan Siegel
Produced by: ONA
Running time: 82 min
Premiere: International Ocean Film Festival
Spanish firefighter, Didac Costa, and his ragtag team of mostly volunteers put everything on the line to tackle arguably the most extreme sporting event on the planet – the Vendée Globe, a solo, non-stop and unassisted sailing race around the world.
Costa battles mounting personal debt, an ill-timed lightning strike, a collision with a whale and finally, the Southern Ocean, home to the most inhospitable seas on Earth. A gripping portrait of an introvert obsessed with a dream that could very well kill him. Or elevate him to sporting immortality.
FOLLOW THE LIGHT
Directed by: Nathan Siegel
Produced by: ONA
Client: MARES
Running time: 12 min
Renowned for its crystal waters and plethora of underwater caves and chambers, Menorca is a paradise for a style of apnea that focuses more on connection with the natural world than going to greater and greater depths.
'Follow the Light' brings together freedivers and MARES ambassadors Juanma Molleja and Valeria Olives and captain Asier Garmendia on a week-long sailing and apnea expedition across the Mediterranean island.
THE SMELL OF THE SEA
Directed by: Nathan Siegel
Produced by: ONA
Client: The Canvas
Running time: 10 min
Ernesto Collado is on a mission: to rewild our sense of smell. In this short documentary, the former playwright-turned-perfumer shows us how to tap into our most underutilized sense and start to understand the language of the world of plants.
Collado tells us how the smell of the sea is a cocktail of death, putrification and bacteria and recounts his incredible life story in which losing his sense of smell led him to reconnect with his grandfather and the natural world around him.
IN COMMUNION WITH THE SEA
Directed by: Nathan Siegel
Produced by: ONA
Client: Ocean52
Running time: 7 min
Conservationist and ocean swimmer Miquel Sunyer brings us to his basecamp, to the place where he communes with the sea, in Cap de Creus National Park in Spain. Having completed the Triple Crown of ocean swimming, including the English Channel, Sunyer wants to transmit his love of the ocean to those around him.
For Sunyer, swimming is a form of meditation as well as a powerful vehicle to learn to care for our oceans.
100 YEARS OF SAILING OBSESSION
Directed by: Nathan Siegel
Produced by: ONA
Client: Maritime Museum Barcelona
Running Time: 7 min
Invented in the early 1900s in the area around Barcelona, the patí vela – a wooden, hand-made catamaran without a rudder – is experiencing a renaissance of renewed interest. Their adrenaline-pumping high speeds, need to use bodyweight for maneuvering and adherence to traditional craft makes the patí an obsession for the tight-knit group of "addicts" who build and sail them.
Rafel Figuerola, owner and lead boatbuilder of the Club Patí Vela Barcelona, says the result of arduous months in the workshop is a boat personalized to a specific sailor, a boat with "soul."