Tarzeer Pictures and the Documentary Film: Making of Mangrove
The documentary film capturing the creation and installation of Mangrove wouldn't exist without Tarzeer Pictures, a Manila-based production company that brought exceptional skill and deep local knowledge to the project. These guys were young, eager, incredibly professional, and the production quality on this documentary is genuinely great. But what made them perfect for this goes way beyond their technical capabilities.
Tarzeer runs a gallery in Manila where they put on really interesting shows and screen short films, bringing compelling artists into the local conversation. They're not just documentarians observing from outside—they're active participants in Manila's art scene. This meant they understood the cultural context of what we were building at Solaire Resort North in a way an outside production team couldn't. It was a great angle having a documentary made by people who were local to that city culture, who brought their own artistic perspective to the work.
Being local gave them huge practical advantages too. They could drop in throughout the fabrication and installation process, capturing the full arc of the project rather than just milestone moments. They were the only people willing and confident enough to fly drones around and through the cable network of the sculpture itself—getting footage that would have been impossible otherwise. And they got some great material because of it.
Their involvement extended beyond documentation. Tarzeer helped fill the entire resort with artwork, particularly championing Filipino artists. They were ingrained in the project of bringing art into the space from the beginning. In fact, they were among the first people we spoke with when the project was initially discussed, so they've been pretty central to the whole endeavor. They even made the trip from Manila to visit our studio in New York, and honestly, we couldn't have been happier with the collaboration.