Lizi Hesling

Role: Editor

My first broadcast credit, this 48-minute current affairs documentary was the lead episode in Series 6 of Undercover Asia, Channel NewsAsia’s flagship, award-winning investigative series. It examines the illegal trade in generic cancer drugs from India into China, where many patients are unable to access the medicines they need.

The programme can be viewed for free on Channel NewsAsia’s website, HERE.

Role: Editor

This 70-minute documentary from acclaimed author and filmmaker Xiaolu Guo is a contemplation on lost youth, identity, and art in this age of reproduction. When poet Vanni receives a hand-painted copy of Caravaggio’s John in the Wilderness for his 40th birthday, his mid-life crisis finds a focal point. Desperate to have it repainted, he recruits the help of his friends, all of them struggling in their own way with the conflict between reality and the fading dreams of their youth. On the other side of the world, the painter responsible for Vanni’s Caravaggio makes do with a more humble existence, all the while harbouring the quiet ambition of one day becoming an artist in his own right. 

My first feature-length film, Five Men & A Caravaggio premiered at the Tel Aviv International Documentary Film Festival in 2018.

Role: Producer, Editor

This short documentary was one of the first I commissioned as Dialogue Earth’s multimedia editor. It visits the dense forests of southeast Liberia, one of West Africa’s last remaining chimpanzee habitats, to explore the threats posed by the growing global demand for palm oil. It was directed by Lucinda Rouse and filmed by Emilie Iob, who also did the first rough cut.

Find out more on the Dialogue Earth website, HERE.

Role: Editor

This 30-minute documentary takes a behind-the-scenes look at the London Aquarium in the style of ITV's The Zoo. It was directed and filmed by then-UWE-student Rachel Wicks as her MA Wildlife Filmmaking graduating film. The original music was composed by Aisling Brouwer and the colour grade was done by Matthew Falconer.

Role: Editor

This 10-minute comedy drama tells the story of a struggling Turkish restaurant run by easy-going chef, Emre, and his uptight son, Mehmet. When a hip new competitor opens up across the street, the hot-headed Mehmet turns to unorthodox methods to try and save his business, with unexpected consequences.

My Goldsmiths MA graduation film, Skewered premiered at the 2018 East End Film Festival.

Role: Editor

Based on a true story, this five-minute short focuses a tarot card reader who suddenly finds herself in a tricky situation when a young man confesses to murder during a reading.

Directed by Anna Hagen, this film was made as part of my MA Film Editing course at Goldsmiths.

Role: Editor

This is a short extract from a mixed-format 30-minute documentary about the transformation of Zhizhu Temple in Beijing. The film was instrumental in gaining an UNESCO Heritage Award for the restoration work done to the complex.

Role: Producer, Editor

This video was the first I made as the CADARN Learning Portal's educational media producer. Reflecting CADARN's support for the principles of open education, it uses a high proportion of Creative Commons materials and is itself released under the Creative Commons Attribution licence.

Role: Producer, Editor

This video was made in collaboration with academics from Bangor University. My role as producer was to help them make an educational resource while also giving them the chance to learn the ropes, training them to make their own videos in future. I edited the video together with Bangor University's Cai Ladd. Russ Basford was the cameraman and Matt Cawte was the animator.

You can see the video in Welsh HERE.

Role: Producer, Editor

This video was made for Aberystwyth University and explains why it's such a good place to study Geography. The cameraman was Russ Basford. Additional footage was supplied by Aberystwyth University.

Role: Production Coordinator, Editor

This video was produced for Samsung by the Bristol-based company Aspect Film and Video. It is part of a series of videos shot in various cities across the world. I coordinated the three that were filmed in Asia, and edited this one from Beijing.

Role: Editor

Made for the launch of the Soil Association's annual Organic Market Report, this video reveals that despite hard economic times, 2012 saw some positive developments in the UK's organic sector.

Role: Producer, Editor

This documentary short highlights the environmental impact of coal ash, a little-known by-product of burning coal that is covering the Chinese countryside in dead zones. It was one of the videos I produced during my time with Greenpeace East Asia. The cameraman was Zhang Jing.

Role: Producer, Editor

This interview was made to coincide with the release of Li Jie's beautiful sketch animation about the dangers of coal, which he and his team spent eight months completing for Greenpeace East Asia. The quality of the work and the technique used were unprecedented in China.

You can see the cartoon itself HERE.