An award-winning filmmaker and cinematographer died earlier this week after getting head-butted by a giraffe.

South African filmmaker Carlos Carvalho, 47, was shooting a series about a British family in a game lodge when he tried to get close to a giraffe.

The animal reacted violently, head-butting him and sending him 16 feet into the air. Mr Carvalho suffered massive head injuries and died after being airlifted to a hospital in Johannesburg. 

Mr Carvalho won the Silver Lion at the Cannes Film Festival in 2003 for a public service announcement for Childline and also received an African Movie Academy Cinematography Award in  2014 for his work on The Forgotten Kingdom.

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