We shot in four countries and multiple cities. Our first location shoot was in Tabora, Tanzania and then we shot in Mexico City, Mexico. We also shot episodes in San Diego and Portland in the USA. We filmed in Vancouver and on Vancouver Island as well as our hometown of Red Deer, Alberta in Canada.

We’re big fans of BlackMagic’s suite of cameras and Canon’s lenses. We used the Ursa Mini Pro 4.6K and Canon Cine lenses.

When originally planned to shoot in Tanzania, we were actually going to shoot an entirely different story. Our shooting plan fell through and we had to evaluate if we were going to even shoot anything at all. As we talked about why we were going to Tanzania we realized that we had a huge story sitting right there in front of us. Dan had been doing humanitarian trips for years to Tanzania and talking about breaking the cycle of poverty and reaching for big dreams. This helped us find our direction and really inspired the bigger concept of the Dream series. So the film itself was birthed out of a challenge.

In Mexico City we had some significant challenges. Simply pulling out a camera during the day in some areas was dangerous. Late one night we were trying to capture some scenes downtown in a particularly dangerous part of the city. When it became clear that we were not going to be able to capture anything with a larger camera, we had to try and find a way to use our phones discreetly and not raise suspicion.

Scheduling was probably one of the greatest challenges. Trying to align schedules with busy people can be the difference between capturing great footage at amazing events or almost getting great stuff. We had to really work with a small crew and be flexible to make the individual shoots work with at our different locations over an 8 month period.

We’re proud to be a production studio that does everything in house. We used The Space in Red Deer for sound and completed editing at both MakerHouse Studio in Red Deer (Matt) and the Creator Space on Vancouver Island (Dan).

Matthew and Daniel Kooman were born and raised in the Canadian prairies on the rolling foothills of Red Deer, Alberta, hours from the picturesque Rocky Mountains. Together with their brother Andrew they own and operate Unveil Studios which they established over the last decade, producing short, documentary and now feature films.  

Their vision is to tell powerful stories that leave a lasting impact with audiences and in the world.  Having spent much time in more than 30 countries, especially the developing world, the Kooman brothers believe film is a vehicle to deliver entertaining narratives and create social entrepreneurship. 

Unveil’s other work includes the award-winning features She Has A Name, E for Everyone: The Mouse and the Elephant. Their documentary work includes The Ladder of My Life, The Story, A Filmmaker’s Search for Revival and Africa Sing Me Your Song.

We have a whole slate of series and films in development, including a Father/Daughter drama, a World War II script that’s garnered early critical praise as a screenplay, a series that takes place in first century Rome, a post-apocalyptic thriller, and a few socially conscious documentaries.