Who We Are

Recreating Eden is a multi-award winning international lifestyle/documentary series produced by Merit Motion Pictures. Shot on HD, the series travels around the world to feature some of the world’s greatest private and public gardens and reveal the fascinating stories behind the gardeners who created them.
From the garden retreats in the Italian hillsides, to gigantic biodomes regarded as the eighth wonder of the world, to the private country gardens only we are allowed to see, each unique episode of Recreating Eden features a gardener who takes the viewer on a tour of his or her unique garden paradise as well as on an intimate journey into their personal lives.
Through vivid images of nature and beautiful narration, we are invited to witness how a single plant can elicit memories of the past, is able to heal emotional pain, excite our creative imagination, and most importantly provide us with an example of how the pure beauty of nature can transcend the troubles of our modern world.

ABOUT THE PRODUCER

Merit Jensen Carr is an award winning producer, recipient ofDocumentary’s Don Daig Award 2013, and lifetime Achievement Award recipient at the Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. Over the past 25 years, Merit Jensen Carr has built her boutique company into a production powerhouse with a reputation for excellence and putting people first. The result is a longlist of international award winning programs including the transmedia One Ocean series co- produced with CBC’s the nature of thingsand national Geographic international andThe Secret World of Shoplifting which was the highest rated program in the history of the CBC DOC Zone strand.

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION COMPANY

MERIT MOTION PICTURES [MMP] is one of Canada’s leading producers of factual entertainment programming. Founded 25 years ago by executive producer and industry veteran, Merit Jensen Carr, MMP specializes in producing premium, multi-platform programming for domestic and international markets. 

From history, science and nature programs to in depth current affairs, and social documentaries, MMP is known for finding fresh and exciting new approaches to telling stories. Notable projects include the ground breaking cross-platform One Ocean series and Recreating Eden, a 65 x 30 min lifestyle/documentary series shot in some of the world’s most exotic gardens. For over 15 years MMP has worked with CBC’s The Nature of Things producing Decoding Desire; Surviving:) The Teenage Brain; Ticked Off: The Mystery of Lyme Disease; the CSA Award winning Smarty Plants and numerous other programs. 

Current productions include Polar Bear Town - a documentary series for OLN (Canada), Smithsonian Channel (US) in partnership with the well known natural history producer and distributor, Earth Touch; The Call of the Forest: the Forgotten Wisdom of Trees – a feature documentary about visionary scientist Diana Beresford-Kroeger (Super Channel, TVO, Knowledge); and My Brain Made Me Do It produced for CBC’s The Nature of Things and the soon to be released science documentary – The Curious Case of Vitamins and Me. directed by Rocky Award winning director, Bryce Sage.  

Over the years MMP has been received recognition from festivals and awards at home and around the world including the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, the Wildscreen Film Festival, ParisScience Film Festival, Life Sciences Film Festival, Banff Television Festival, the Writers Guild of Canada Awards, the Gemini Awards and the Canadian Screen Awards.  

MMP has worked with a variety of broadcasters including CBC, CTV, CanWest Global Communications, HGTV, BRAVO!, Smithsonian Channel, OLN, National Geographic International, The Science Channel, Turner Network Television, ZDF/ARTE and TVO.

 

AWARDS

 

Recreating Eden has received the following awards:

  • 2007 Gemini Award: Best Writing in an Information Program or Series
  • 2007 Gemini Award Nominee: Best Lifestyle Series
  • 2007 Gemini Award Nominee: Best Direction in a Lifestyle Series
  • 2007 Golden Sheaf Award: Best Lifestyle Program
  • 2006 Blizzard Award: Cinematography Overall: Non-Fiction
  • 2005 Golden Sheaf Award: Best Documentary Series
  • 2004 Gemini Award: Best Direction in a Lifestyle/Practical Information Program or Series
  • 2004 Gemini Award Nominee: Best Lifestyle/General Interest Series
  • 2004 WorldFest Houston Awards: Silver Remi, Best Leisure and Recreation