We were lucky to catch up with Fairlie Arrow recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Fairlie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

I was very fortunate to grow up in Australia around horses, I got to ride everyday and there’s nothing better for a kid to love a horse and be loved by a horse. that is something that has always stayed with me and that where I became an advocate for all animals. I later got into the music industry where I spent most of my life, and I didn’t discover filmmaking till much much later, so yes absolutely I wish I had discovered my purpose earlier, however, I have to believe that everything that came before, will contribute to the work I do now. My son Jesse works with me, he is an owner of Kalamo Productions, so that is probably the best thing about my career now, is that I get to work with my son. Can’t beat that! I’m sure all the mom’s out there will agree with that:)

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My son Jesse and I recently started Kalamo Productions after one of our recent working trips to Africa. As filmmakers and storytellers, we are fueled by these heroes working for NGO’s & NPO’s. They selflessly dedicate and risk their lives everyday to do what the majority of us cannot do, and that is fight to protect wildlife, their communities, and they stand up against poachers, wildlife traffickers, bush meat traffickers, those who take advantage of villagers in poverty and try to use them for their own means to help find, poach and kill wildlife for financial gain. We were so awoken by what’s happening in the world of human-wildlife conflict, we knew that we had to become part of the fight but also part of the solution.

Kalamo Productions was officially born in 2022 and our mission is to tell these incredibly complex yet powerful raw stories about the heroes on the front lines fighting to protect our wildlife and our natural world.
With these human-wildlife conflict documentaries we intend to do everything we can through grass roots campaigns throughout the world to engage audiences, raise awareness, but most of all, bring people together and incite action to change the narrative. And these films are for all ages because our kids are going to inherit this planet and the burden is going to passed on to them to prevent a mass extinction event, because that’s where we are heading unless we learn to conserve, protect and coexist with nature. Understand that, human-wildlife conflict is a major player in climate change.

Our first film in the series “Of Tusks & Tears”will start production in November 2023 and should be completed by late 2024. We have an extensive social media plan during production, along with a world wide distribution plan for the finished film, but what I want people to know is this, as I said earlier, education is so important if we’re going to turn things around, if we’re going to find peaceful coexistence with our wildlife, with nature.
Making sure that these films will be seen is the most important part of our Human-Wildlife Conflict Initiative. Because of partners and partner relationships so far, these films will not only be seen through main stream media and theatrical events, educational cuts will also be made available for schools, universities, conferences, conventions as well as government organizations. We also intend on outreach campaigns throughout the African countries dealing with these crises.

Make no mistake, because of our planet’s over population, Human-Wildlife Conflict is reaching crisis levels. Everyday, conservation organizations around the world, including right here in the U.S, are working against the clock to uncover solutions necessary for the survival and harmony of both human and wildlife. The question is, are you willing to support their efforts?

Story is powerful, and story can change the world. Here at Kalamo Productions, we are always looking for those passionate people, those passionate brands to work with us and help us in the global fight to save the world’s wildlife. If someone is reading this that’s part of a company, a business that believes in the importance of our wildlife, our biodiversity and wants to help, please reach out because as with most of great things, we can’t do this alone.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Animals, wildlife, they’re amazing, incredible, intelligent, spiritual, our planet is filled with all these brilliant creatures on land and in the waters, but we are not doing a very good job of looking out for them, respecting their space, their needs. We take their wildlands, their water and food resources and then we wonder why they’re encroaching on our space, coming into our backyards, our neighborhoods. Then we want them removed and we kill them or host killing contests. To me that is absolutely barbaric. My goal in every documentary we do, is to educate, inspire, connect people and wildlife, help the audience understand not just how important they are to our eco-system but what the consequences of their extinction would be on this planet, and ultimately on us. We protect what we love and maybe we can show people that our wildlife families are not that different to us, at our very core we all want food, water and a place to live and thrive and so does our wildlife.

We also must respect and appreciate them and learn to love them the way they are, not the way we want them to be, they’re not for us to use. There has been a disgusting increase in wildlife trafficking, especially small monkeys being ripped away from their mothers, to be used to build social media accounts. Some people will literally use and abuse any creature to make money and Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, Tiktoc, they’re not doing anything about it. They also need to be held responsible. At the end of the day our mission is to build empathy, connection between humans and wildlife, our vision is that we’ll no longer need films like this because we’ve all learned to respect, appreciate and coexist with our animals neighbors, no matter where we’re from or what country we live in.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an independent documentary filmmaker is definitely not making a lot of money, that’s for sure. It’s tough, you’re always chasing money to keep filming and finding ways to get your films in front of people, but the rewarding aspect is that you get to tell stories that matter, that you feel can make a difference, create change because story does that, story can change the world and it has done many many times throughout history and that’s not going change. I hope that our films in some way inspire people, encourage people to appreciate and step up to protect our natural world and also help the people, the heroes on the front lines doing the incredible work that really is selfless, Gods work. Telling those stories, that’s rewarding!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.oftusksandtears.com
• Instagram: @Kalamoproductions.com
• Facebook: www.Facebook.com/Kalamoproductions
• Linkedin: @fairliearrow
• Twitter: @KalamoProducti1
• Youtube: @kalamoproductions6268
• Other: Business website: www.kalamoproductions.com / www.storynmotion.com Films website: www.oftusksandtears.com

Image Credits
Photos: Kalamo Productions Edward Selfe Photography Micheal Davy Photography