Film Festival Films
About the Films featured in the Film Festival.
Acid Test: The Global Challenge of Ocean Acidification (21 min)
Bicycle Trip (14 min)
The Comfort of Cold (4 min)
In Awe of the Shark (5 min)
Lost on a Reef (16 min)
Paddle to Seattle (NEW 52min condensed version!)
Surfbus (4 min)
Rowing the Atlantic (25 min)
A View from Below (72 min)
White Shark Cafe (20 min)
Acid Test: The Global Challenge of Ocean Acidification
(USA), Natural Resources Defense Council, 21 mins
Not many people have heard about the "other carbon problem," but more and more scientists are puzzling over it. About a quarter of the excess CO2 in our atmosphere is absorbed into the oceans; unfortunately CO2 + H20 = H2CO3, carbonic acid. Higher acidity in our oceans inhibits the formation of calcium, which corals and all shelled organisms require. What does this mean to us and the marine species that inhabit our oceans? Will ocean species be able to adapt? Acid Test explores these issues, then reveals how to take action today to stop the creation of an uninhabitable ocean.
Bicycle Trip
(USA), Patrick Trefz, 14 mins
This sense of place piece, follows a surfer cruising through Santa Cruz in search of a dream. The mountains, city, forests, and finally coast of Southern California along with the surfer, bicycle, and single-fin board provide a stunning study of movement, structure, and light.
The Comfort of Cold
(USA), Sara Newens, 4 mins
Some people seem able to do everything in life. 75-year old Joe Illick is one of them. Twice daily he enjoys his ritual escapes into the frigid waters of San Francisco Bay even during the coldest months of the year. This meditative practice influences his artistic pursuits – wood cutting, writing, painting, and carving.
In Awe of the Shark
(UK), Caroline Brett, 5 mins
As filmmaker Caroline Brett interviews some of the world's leading marine biologists, hear their passionate plea to rethink the shark. Since the time of the dinosaurs, these sensitive, intelligent creatures have cruised our delicately balanced seas. If we take out sharks and it will tip the scales. Can we change our views of these inquisitive and even playful beings in time to save them?
Lost on a Reef
(USA), Stephani Gordon, 16 mins
Lost on a Reef was filmed in the beautiful, remote stretch of reefs 1000 miles northwest of Honolulu, and tells the story of six marine archeologists searching for shipwrecks in a place known more for its glorious coral reefs than the ghosts of ships past. The ships that came to grief on these reefs include everything from 18th century whaling ships to WWII sidewheel steamers. The wrecks are in a rare pristine state by virtue of being so remote, and most have lain there undiscovered for centuries.
Paddle to Seattle
(USA), Josh Thomas / Ben Gottfried / J.J. Kelley, 52 mins
In homemade wooden boats, J.J. Kelley and Josh Thomas travelled the 1,300-mile Inside Passage. 2008 was the rainiest summer in 15-years in our continent’s only rainforest. For three months Kelley and Thomas Paddled to Seattle facing the hardships that accompany a lifestyle predominantly removed from civilization. Taken from the perspective of an ancient craft the film speaks to the beauty of people-power over a great distance. The film is interjected with moments of humor that act as a shining credit to the light-hearted spirit of the young adventurers.
Surfbus
(USA), Sachi Cunningham, 4 mins
Thanks to the Surfbus, 6,000 inner-city kids in Southern California enjoy surfing for 11 weeks each summer. They delight in learning to ride the waves on body boards and then progressing to surf boards. Mary Setterholm, former US Surf champion and founder of the Surf Academy, uses her life experiences to help children conquer their fears and take joy in experiencing the ocean.
Rowing the Atlantic
(USA), J.B. Benna and Roz Savage, 25 mins
A power-suit wearing project manager at a banking firm, Roz Savage seems an unlikely candidate to be the first woman to row the 3,000 miles across the Atlantic. Alone and with no support, Roz fights storms that break every one of her oars before she even reaches halfway (and also claim her camping stove, stereo, and cockpit navigation instruments). The sea gradually reduces her boat to the bare essentials, but she refuses to surrender in the face of overwhelming conditions. Roz’s voyage doesn’t just show that she has what it takes to make the change from city worker to transaltlantic rower, she shows that we all have the strength within us to be the people we truly want to be.
A View from Below (brief adult language)
(USA) Matt O'Connor and Paul DiNatalo, 72 mins
Follows Karl Stanley, an eccentric deep sea
explorer who risks everything when he takes his homemade
submarine to unprecedented ocean depths in search of
creatures never seen before.
White Shark Cafe
(USA), Sean Aronson, 20 mins
Some of the largest great white sharks feed on seals and sea lions just 27 miles west of San Francisco during the Summer/Fall. Where can these coastal feeders be found the rest of the year? New tagging technology reveals they are meeting up with potential mates halfway between Baja, California and Hawaii at “White Shark Café”.
