Film Festival Films
About the Films featured in the Film Festival.
-Click on the film name for more details-
Shawn Harper
In the islands of the Four Mountains Region of the Aleutian chain scientific divers from UAF’s School of Fisheries & Ocean Sciences first set out to search for and then sample water from a small hydrothermal vent. While expanding their survey of the coastlines, in the same region they discover that a species of “walking” anemones which appear to be a previously undiscovered species. Stunning underwater footage will have you wondering whether you’re in the Caribbean or the Aleutians.
Arjun Rihan
History is filled with lyric examples of lovers separated by one body of water or another. This comic, animated short looks at what happens when the usual solution is usually the problem.
John Bowermaster
Drawn to Tasmania by its mysterious history and wild and rugged shores, explorer Jon Bowermaster and team tae on the waters around Tasmania. The remote and little-known Australian island state proved to be a perfect coast line for exploring by kayak. More intriguing than the paddling were the stops along the 600-mile route marked by fishermen and historians, sailors and aboriginals.
John Whittier
Stunning film montage of life aboard a Bering Sea crab fishing boat. You’ll never question the cost of crab again.
John Hocevar
Bering Voices uses first person accounts and striking wildlife footage to tell the story of Alaska natives and their struggle to survive in a rapidly changing environment. As industrial fisheries and global warming contribute to depletion of marine life that have been key components of native diets for thousands of years, fishermen are traveling farther and farther offshore in search of food that was once plentiful right off the beach.
Birthplace of the Winds (24 min)
Jon Bowermaster
National Geographic explorer, Jon Bowermaster, leads an expedition into one of Alaska’s most remote corners. Seeking to kayak among five volcanic islands and climb their snowcapped peaks, the group follows in the paddle-strokes of the greatest kayakers ever, the Aleuts.
Jon Bowermaster
For five weeks Jon Bowermaster and team paddled among the 1,200 Adriatic islands off the coast of Croatia. The recently war-torn country is still recovering but its resilient people were perfect hosts....whether their island was populated by a single family, or a centuries-old walled city of 10,000. Particularly interested in the fishing life on the sea, Jon Bowermaster meets aquaculturists, small family fishermen and international trawler captains.
Steve Smith
Half the oxygen we breathe comes from the oceans. This time-lapse recording of marine environments around the world gives viewers the physical sensation of how vital our oceans are to our most basic human function.
John Hocevar
A team of intrepid scientists survey previously unexplored canyons in the Bering Sea, including Zemchug Canyon, the largest canyon in the World. Enjoy a front row seat as they discover new species and witness for the first time in human history this otherworldly realm.
Leah Wolchok
In the 1950s on Florida's west coast, when a young woman graduated from high school, she got married, went to college…or became a Weeki Wachee mermaid. And once a Weeki Wachee mermaid, always a Weeki Wachee mermaid, as a team of forty-something mermaids gracefully prove.
Roger Teich
Diver Ron Elliot harvests sea urchins at the Farallon Islands, even during white shark season. This haunting film examines his emergence from a substance-tainted past into a life beneath the sea that offers focus and meaning "at the margins of grace and terror."
Brian Smith
An intimate look at “commando kayaker,” Dubside, featuring beautiful Greenland rolling and astonishing ropes gymnastics.
Dean Hamer
Escolinha de Bodyboarding da Rocinha is a surfing school situated on a beach in Rio de Janeiro, downhill from one of the most dangerous slums in South America. With a pair of flippers, a foam board, and good waves, kids are taught to overcome adversity by focusing on school – both regular school and bodyboarding school, where big air and ripping are the highlights.
Jennifer Winston
Features Alaskan and northwest fisher folk who gather in Astoria, Oregon yearly to express the joy and toil of their profession in verse. The poems are set against a backdrop of interviews highlighting the current state of small scale fishing.
Fisher Poets (Trailer - 3 min)
Jennifer Winston
Synopsis of the award winning documentary featuring Alaskan fishermen who spin tall tales and weave true stories of life at sea through vivid and powerful poetry. Discover what truly inspires this colorful community that's on the brink of extinction.
Lucy Bateman & Etienne Oliff
Ever wondered what happens to your footwear after you’re finished with it? This startlingly original documentary traces the fantastic journey of Africa’s most popular shoes: the flip-flop. Easily bought, quickly discarded, the flip-flop stands as a symbol of the summer holiday for millions of westerners. But in its African homeland, it undergoes a series of versatile transformations.
Free-diving into the Blue (6:45 min)
Evan Stone
Host Johnny Bell takes us into the world of Free-diving in beautiful Kona, Hawaii. Going down as much 350 feet, these daring Free-divers push it to the limit as they go for their personal best.
Bryce Groark
Astonishing look at coral reef creatures that feed in the most unlikely of places. These feeders give dental hygiene a whole new meaning.
Henry Wood Elliott: Defender of the Fur Seal (26 min)
NOAA Ocean Services
In Alaska’s Pribilof Islands , the end of the 19th century spelled the end of the fur seal – hunted to near extinction. Henry Wood Elliott used his illustrations of northern life and basic tools as a zoologist to call attention to the dwindling population.
Healthy Oceans, Healthy Humans (4 min)
Harvard Center for Health and the Global Environment
All life on Earth, including our own, depends on the oceans. By exploring the ocean as healer, nourisher, and protector, the reflective piece reveals how our own health is connected to the health of the ocean.
John Dutton
Verging on extinction in the Pacific, giant leatherback turtles have long kept a secret that has eluded scientists. With a need for knowledge to conserve them, US Scientists launch an ambitious research mission. For the first time ever, they chart the leatherback’s unprecedented 7,000-mile migration across the Pacific to natal beaches in Indonesia.
Dr. Bradley Stevens, NOAA
Kodiak scientists seek to unlock the hidden world of the King Crab off of Kodiak Island. Startling underwater footage of Alaska’s favorite crustacean combined with insightful research unveil startling secrets of these hardy bottom dwellers.
Natural Resources Defense Council
Deafeningly loud sonar is a proven danger to marine life, but its use throughout the world’s oceans is spreading. This powerful movie makes plain what sonar does to whales caught within its range, and explains how whales, dolphins, and other marine mammals can be protected from sonar.
Mad Mac and the Flat Ugly Snail (25 mins)
Bill Morris & Kate Bradbury
Mac MacIntosh, a loner, eventually realized that to preserve his isolated life as a diver for paua, New Zealand's abalone, he couldn't continue to work alone. So he formed a paua divers’ cooperative. Goodbye middlemen, hello sudden wealth. Mac's openness in talking about how that wealth changed him and his idyllic life gives this film its structure and its heart.
Mapping the Sea Floor (15 min)
Joan Johnson
Rikk Kvitek, director of the Seafloor Mapping Lab at California State University, Monterey Bay, works to uncover the topography of a three mile strip along the coast of California’s Half Moon Bay. Leading the North Central Coast Mapping Project he produces accurate 3-dimensional images of the ocean’s floor.
Natchiliag'naiqtuguk Aapagalu (11 Min)
Seal Hunting with Dad
Andrew MacLean
Carl Kippi teaches his son Jordan to hunt seal in remote Alaska in this subtle, but poignant, short documentary that was shown at Sundance last year. Thin on dialogue, it emphasizes the rich nuances of expression which accompany father-son relationships and rites of passage.
Jon West Seafoods, AK Fish and Game, Eric Parsons
Combination of riotous and shocking ocean shorts from Alaska and around the world. that’ll have you both rolling in the aisles and dropping your jaw.
The Old Man and the Fish (6 min)
David Bokser
The most existentially-sublime, six-minute, computer-generated fish film you’ll ever see.
Rob Wilson
One man on a rural beach in Mexico has dedicated his life to saving the Lora sea turtle. His efforts have not only played a key role in the restoration of this nearly extinct species, he has also educated thousands of children in the process.
Will Kim
The filmmaker, Will Kim looks at the ocean as many different colors from his own watercolor palette sets. Will's visual poetry from his choice of watercolor paintings will lead you to his own interpretation of the personalities and colors of the ocean.
Protecting New Orleans, Saving Venice (12 min)
Marylou Tibaldo-Bongiorno
Post-Katrina, Mississippi Delta restoration expert, Dr. John Day, shows how to rebuild Louisiana’s coastal wetlands in order to safeguard New Orleans against future hurricanes. He also draws parallels between NOLA and Venice, Italy and analyzes Venice’s struggle to save itself from devastating floods.
Pulp Poo & Perfection (15 min)
Josh Berry
Investigates two major hazards of surfing in Chile: the wastewater pipeline and discard of the forestry industry. South Americans face mythical waves and invent creative solutions to keep on surfing.
Valerie Reid
With no templates and the simplest of tools, Peter Donnelly creates a new and intricate design every week on New Zealand’s Brighton beach, lasting only ‘til high tide. His connection to, and love of, the sand and the sea, are evident. Donnelly is a Sand Dancer and magic maker.
Chris Bauer
Ever wonder where waves come from? It turns out the very biggest along the America’s west coast start right here in the Gulf of Alaska. Shocking footage of the best surfers in the world taking on these frothy demons highlights the power that hides at the water’s surface.
Kelly O’Brien & Mike Illenberg
Longline fishermen in the Gulf of Alaska are being robbed of their livelihood by unlikely thieves – sperm whales. This film documents the efforts of researchers and fishermen to stymie the whales’ freeloading behaviors and their dependence on the Alaska commercial fishing fleet.
Sharks: Stewards of the Reef (26 min)
David McGuire
Examines escalating threats to shark populations including habitat destruction of reef ecosystems and overfishing that are causing Pacific Reef Shark populations to plummet. The film investigates the most brutal assault threatening shark abundance: that of finning sharks for shark fin soup.
Slow Boat to Somewhere (24 min)
Jon Bowermaster
A Polynesian freighter — a floating K-Mart — makes a 3,000-mile monthly circuit among the planet's most remote atolls. Crews risk everything to bring life-giving supplies to Tahitians threatened by rising sea levels and Western ways.
Evan Stone
The heart warming tale of one couple’s search to find peace in their autistic son Isaiah’s challenging life. A chance attempt at having Isaiah catch waves on a surfboard has turned into a national movement.
Carolyn Scott
Carolyn Scott’s tribute to Texas hero, Diane Wilson, reveals one woman’s unconventional approach to protecting the waters surrounding her small Texas town. She takes on corporate giants and passive town folk with equal vigor
Titans of the Coral Sea (18 min)
Jordan Plotsky
In the turquoise waters of Northern Papua New Guinea, there is a community of fishermen who are struggling to feed their families, and to preserve some of the world’s most pristine coral reefs. These reefs are their ancient fishing grounds, and the survival of these communities depends on the health of the reefs and fish. This is a film about stewardship, and a community taking charge of their future.
Then and Now; The Alaska Oil Spill at 20
Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Committee
The film commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. This film includes historical footage, interviews with people involved in the response and clean up and advancements made since the spill in the transportation of oil out of Valdez Alaska. Beautiful footage of the oil spill affected area reminds the audience what remains at risk and why citizens must remain vigilant.
We're On the Brink (3:36 min)
Drew McKeen
Breathtaking short about the choices we make and their global implications.
Whale Sharks of Holbox (7 min)
Mike Wham
The islanders of Holbox, Mexico, facing a dwindling stock of fish, successfully convert their economy to ecotourism. In doing so, they help protect the world’s largest fish, the Whale Shark.
