Wild, Wild South: Filmmaker Hyatt Mamoun Spotlights Lowcountry Wildlife on PBS

Story by Alea Wilkins + Photos by Sound Off Films and Southern Wild Films for SCETV

“Are we talking about Dolly?” asks Hyatt Mamoun over Zoom, voice lilting with a Southern accent. The wildlife filmmaker enters the call from the Great Smoky Mountains, where she’s shooting a new project, to discuss her show Wild, Wild South, but she’s quickly diverted with talk of the country icon. “I joined at the right time!”

At 28 years old, Hyatt has traveled across the globe for her documentaries. Along the way, the Atlanta native earned the attention of National Geographic, the Smithsonian channel and the Discovery channel. Her award-winning student films received honors from the Wildlife Conservation Film Festival, the National Academy of Arts and Sciences and others. Whether creating prize-winning films or sharing “bites of nature” on her Instagram, Hyatt’s work reflects her love for the environment. Since honing her craft at the Savannah College of Art and Design and, later, American University, Hyatt continues to document the world around her, hoping to make environmental education both accessible and entertaining. Her new miniseries, Wild, Wild South, produced by Sound Off films for South Carolina ETV and PBS, is a culmination of those efforts. In conversation with LOCAL Life, Hyatt discusses her earliest inspirations, wildest encounters and future ambitions. 

[LOCAL Life] When did your passion for wildlife begin? [Hyatt Mamoun] As cheesy as it sounds, I feel like I was born to do this. Since I was a little kid, I had stuffed animals and toy dinosaurs instead of dolls. My parents took me on a lot of road trips, and my mom always had us pull over, put on Crocs and start picking through the creek.

[LL] What about your love for film? [HM] I always loved Steve Irwin and Jeff Corwin. I would come home from school, and I remember that “The Crocodile Hunter” was on first, and the “The Jeff Corwin Experience” was on second. Then I’d go outside and play with the dinosaurs. We had a little camcorder in the house, so I started filming stuff. I loved film, and I loved animals, but I never thought, “oh, can I combine these?” When I went to SCAD, that’s where I combined my film skill with my passion for wildlife, and the Lowcountry is a great place for that. You’re surrounded by all these crazy, cool animals just right outside your front door — literally. I remember there was a gator outside the dorm.

[LL] What led you to your first wildlife film project? [HM] When I went to SCAD, I made my very first wildlife documentary. It’s about the dolphins strand feeding in South Carolina. I knew about strand feeding, and I realized there was no 4K footage of it at the time. I filmed animals before, and I had a class at SCAD that taught us to make documentaries, so I said, “let’s just go ahead and do it.”

[LL] Since then, your work has taken you all around the world, from the Bahamas to Austria. Why did you want to return to the Lowcountry for Wild, Wild South? [HM] The Lowcountry is a special place in my heart because of that connection that I’ve had from SCAD and my time going there growing up.

[LL] Were there any moments that surprised you while filming? [HM] We always talk about the gators and the big awesome things, and I just love swamp chickens. I’ve always seen them walking through the swamp — they have these big wide toes so they don’t sink in — and this is the first time I saw them in a tree. They are so clumsy! They’re like a basketball on toothpicks trying to balance on another toothpick.

[LL] In the second episode you mention that wildlife film making requires extreme patience. What other challenges or obstacles did you face? [HM] We got caught in a rainstorm, which could be seen as a challenge, but from a film-making perspective, it can bring out all these different animals and actually give you a bit of variety.

[LL] What was your favorite moment while filming? [HM] We came across this big, fat, juicy mushroom, and I got to learn about a new mushroom process called guttation. We met all sorts of wildlife, but I could talk about gators all day. I love those big lizards.

[LL] Did you learn anything else? [HM] I think there’s always something new to learn. I used to live in Washington, D.C., and whenever I was there, I realized while telling these stories about the Lowcountry, people didn’t really know all the crazy wildlife that’s in one spot. That was something I wanted to share with everybody. I want to learn on camera with people because I don’t know everything, and I want us all to learn together.

[LL] What do you hope viewers learn? [HM] I want people to get excited about the critters in their backyard, and I want them to realize you don’t have to travel far and wide to see some incredible amazing stories. You’ve just got to get outside. Be patient, and something amazing will come out.

[LL] You say your motto is “conversation through entertainment and education.” How does the show bring that idea to life? [HM] Whenever you’re telling these wildlife stories, you want to get people excited about these animals because how can you protect an animal if you don’t know anything about it? You have to be able to connect to it to protect it. And wildlife is so entertaining. It’s its own soap opera. The entertainment is already there. You just have to go look for it. Our team made a conscious effort to keep all the goofy moments and all the bloopers. We left those silly parts in because, really, we want to get out and have a good time.

[LL] What projects are you working on? [HM] This miniseries is just the beginning of “Wild, Wild South.” The team at Sound Off  and I are planning to keep filming and sharing the wildlife of the South with y’all. There is a bright future for the show, and there’s still plenty to explore.