Chiara Bellati (born Chiara Anna Bellati) is an Italian television producer and director who divides her time between New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Her latest project was for the BBC Natural History Unit. That film, Ocean of Volcanoes, is one of 6 films in the acclaimed BBC/Discovery series Wild Pacific, transmitted for the first time in the UK under the title South Pacific in June 2009. Previously she worked on 2 series of the BAFTA award-winning BBC "Coast" and on a number of programmes for Channel 4, including producing a documentary for the controversial Witness Series entitled Moving Heaven and Earth, and producing and directing a prime-time series of the Royal Television Society award-winning series A Place in the Sun.
Chiara's most recent project in New Zealand was producing a documentary called Healer or Hoaxer, shown at prime-time on TV ONE - TVNZ's main channel. The film received much critical acclaim due to its sensitive subject matter, dealing with the plight suffered by a group of terminally ill patients who turn to a controversial Brazilian faith healer for salvation. Her other director credits in New Zealand include the country's most popular and long-running wildlife series The Zoo. She is also credited as working on several programmes made by NHNZ Ltd, a local production company which specializes in making natural history series for the Discovery and Animal Planet networks in the USA. She started her professional career in television after being selected for the exclusive ITN Graduate Trainee Scheme and working for the company on Channel 5 News.
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