Geert Droppers, a Dutch diver, started filming in 2003.

His drive: a passion for sharks. He has been diving with many shark species and collected shark footage from all over the world.

His documentaries show not only how beautiful and graceful those animals are, but also reveal surprising insights into their behaviour, which is often quite different from what most people expect.

As a filmmaker, he wants to give the viewer a more genuine picture of an animal that, naturally, must be handled with care and respect, but that is certainly not the monstrous 'killing-machine' that so many people think it is.

More details on website www.protect-the-sharks.org

Geert Droppers about his film "Gimme a hug"
About 10 years ago I saw a short clip (just a few seconds) on TV and I thought; this would be great footage to change people's mind and vision about sharks.

The undeserved bad reputation, caused by films like Jaws and the so-called documentaries that are broadcasted by Discovery, portrait sharks as dangerous man-eaters.

THIS IS TOTALLY WRONG! The sharks are animals like many others, some individuals are dangerous (like some humans) but most of them are just interested in a free meal (like most humans).

On one of my filmtrips, I met Cristina at the same boat that I was on and she told us about her work. I immediately realized that it was her who I had seen in the clip about 10 years ago... They had experienced this Tonic Immobility for the first time about 15 years ago when they where feeding dolphins in front of divers (customers). Sharks smelled the food, came in to try to get some free food, but were pushed at their nose to keep them away from the food. Then they find out that the sharks layed down, liked to be patted etc ... (the tonic immobility as you can see it in GIMME A HUG).

In general, all sharks are easy going. Humans are not on their menu and generally spooken, you can dive with all shark specie. Of course you have to be careful and respect them, but the only reason that they will get close to you, is because of the smell of food that we put in the water. Without this, you wouldn't see sharks getting close to you, maybe not even see them ... That's why I make those kind of documentaries. To show people how sharks really are and behave. To create awareness and a better understanding of the sharks. What people don't know, they can't love and what people don't love, they are not willing to protect! The Tonic Immobility is just another shark mystery ...