Karin Muller (born June 8, 1965) is a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

-born author, filmmaker, photographer, and adventurer. She graduated from

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim ...

in 1987.

Career

Muller has spent the past twenty years traveling alone to remote cultures and conflict zones to bring home stories about people and places. She has published three books (Hitchhiking Vietnam, Along the Inca road, and Japanland), produced numerous international television documentary series, and is a frequent lecturer for the

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, natural sc ...

and universities throughout the United States. Her first expedition took her to the

Ho Chi Minh Trail The Ho Chi Minh Trail (), also called Annamite Range Trail () was a Military logistics, logistical network of roads and trails that ran from North Vietnam to South Vietnam through the kingdoms of Kingdom of Laos, Laos and Cambodia (1953–1970), ...

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

, which enabled her to produce a

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

television special, Hitchhiking Vietnam, and a companion book by

Globe Pequot Press Globe Pequot is a book publisher and distributor of outdoor recreation and leisure titles that publishes 500 new titles. Globe Pequot was acquired by Morris Communications in 1997. Lyons Press was acquired in 2001. It was sold to Rowman & Little ...

of the same name. Her second expedition took her to the Inca Road, a four-thousand-mile trek from

Quito, Ecuador Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

Santiago, Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

resulting in a 3-part television series, '' Along the Inca Road'' for ''National Geographic'' and a book published by the Adventure Press. Muller's third adventure took her to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, where she lived with a pre-

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

mountain ascetic cult, joined a

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

-mounted

archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a Bow and arrow, bow to shooting, shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting ...

team, and completed a 1,300-kilometer pilgrimage around

Shikoku is the smallest of the List of islands of Japan#Main islands, four main islands of Japan. It is long and between at its widest. It has a population of 3.8 million, the least populated of Japan's four main islands. It is south of Honshu ...

. This journey was published in '' Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa'', as both a 4-hour documentary series and book. She took no camera crew or companions, or even much money, and went on foot and emerged profoundly changed and understanding more, but also realized as a "typical" American she could not really become Japanese. In February 2013 PBS released Muller's documentary, Cuba's Secret Side. Part one, titled ''Under The Radar'', looks at the results of the 1959

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

Cuban revolution The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...

by examining the day-to-day life of a variety of Cuban citizens. Part two of ''Cuba's Secret Side'' is titled ''The Truth Revealed''. It delves into Cuba's unique religious combination of

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and

Santería Santería (), also known as Regla de Ocha, Regla Lucumí, or Lucumí, is an African diaspora religions, Afro-Caribbean religion that developed in Cuba during the late 19th century. It arose amid a process of syncretism between the traditional ...

. This part of the documentary also looks at spear fisherman and their home-made

fishing tackle Fishing tackle is the equipment used by fishermen, anglers when fishing. Almost any equipment or gear used in fishing can be called fishing tackle, examples being fishing hook, hooks, fishing line, lines, fishing bait, baits/fishing lure, lures ...

. The second part of the series ends with the examination of a large festival in the town of [?}. Light displays, fireworks and a float parade inspire both competition and cooperation in the local citizens. Filmed over the course of three months, and without the supervision or permission of the Cuban government, Muller was detained by Cuban authorities over 12 times. The resulting documentary strives to be even-handed, documenting both the successes and failures of the Cuban government. Most remarkably, it details a Cuban humanitarian crisis that happened in the early 1990s only 90 miles from the shores of the United States. In March, 2014, PBS released Muller's next documentary, Sudan's Secret Side., documenting Muller's three-three month journey alone through Chad and Sudan. Muller explored the thriving Sudanese refugee camps, embedded with rebels and government soldiers, and filmed stories of nomadic goat herders and sultan's wedding ceremonies. In May, 2016, Muller's current documentary, Egypt Beyond the Pyramids will premiere nationwide on public television. Muller spent 9 weeks in Egypt, living with Cairo's garbage collectors, Nile fishermen, and Bedouin nomads. She spent weeks in Tahrir Square covering the Morsi revolution, only to be severely injured by a mob in a remote village in the Nile Delta and flown back to the States for emergency surgery. Muller lives in

Ventura, California Ventura, officially named San Buenaventura (Spanish for "Saint Bonaventure"), is a city in and the county seat of Ventura County, California, United States. It is a coastal city located northwest of Los Angeles. The population was 110,763 at the ...

Non-profit activities

Muller has founded an educational organization named ''Take 2: The Student's Point of View'' whose mission is to help students develop global citizenship and leadership skills. Muller provides the raw footage used to create her international documentary series - along with comprehensive curricula - to schools throughout the USA and Canada. Students are encouraged to use the materials to create documentaries or short films and in the process, develop deeply personal connections with the local people whose stories they are telling. The first projects have involved footage from Sudan, Chad, and Cuba; 60 hours of footage were provided to schools, and a number of documentary programs have been completed. Approximately 180 schools have joined the project thus far. In-depth footage is available on a variety of topic, including Cuba, North Africa, and the Environment.

Filmography

* 2017: (Ongoing) Our Human Planet on YouTube * 2016: Egypt Beyond the Pyramids: 2-hour documentary television series for public television (USA) and PBS Distribution (internationally) * 2014: Sudan's Secret Side: 2-hour documentary television series for public television (USA) and PBS Distribution (internationally) * 2013: Cuba's Secret Side: 2-hour documentary television series for public television (USA) and PBS Distribution (internationally) * 2006: Japanland: 4-hour public television series (filmed, written, edited, narrated, and produced by Karin Muller) * 2001: Along the Inca Road: 3-part TV Mini-Series documentary for National Geographic (filmed, written, narrated, and produced by Karin Muller) * 1997: Hitchhiking Vietnam: 1-hour PBS special (filmed, written, narrated, and produced by Karin Muller)

References

External links

PBS educational website on ''Japanland'' - Muller's latest documentary series

PBS-hosted site on Muller's one-hour PBS documentary on Vietnam

Photo essay on Japan by Muller for Nikon's magazine

Karin Muller's profile on National Geographic website

website for purchasing Muller's books and documentary series

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muller, Karin 1965 births Living people 20th-century Swiss photographers 21st-century Swiss photographers Williams College alumni 20th-century women photographers 21st-century Swiss women photographers