Sea Change
Thursday, 7 pm
Ribbon of Sand
Saturday, 10 am
Sanganeb - Red Sea Atoll
Saturday, 4 pm
Whats Killing the Sea Otters?
Saturday, 4 pm
Shark Conservation
Saturday, 7:30 pm
PapaTortuga
Saturday, 7:30 pm
Science of Big Waves
Saturday, 7:30 pm
Sliding Liberia
Saturday, 7:30 pm
The Last Wild Oyster
Sunday, 10 am
Sealhunting with Dad
Sunday, 10 am
The Faroe Islands
Sunday, 1 pm
Dungeness
Sunday, 1 pm
19 Arrests, No Convictions
Sunday, 1 pm
Spaceflight Dolphin
Sunday, 4 pm
Returning Home
Sunday, 4 pm
Sand Dancer
Sunday, 4 pm
Dubside
Sunday, 4 pm
Man Among Orcas
Sunday, 4 pm
2008 Film Program
Thursday, January 31
Education Program
Please secure attendance vouchers through our education coordinators.
Special Event – 7:00 PM
SeaChange: Reversing the Tide
Roger Payne & Lisa Harrow
»purchase ticket
click here for details
Friday, February 1
Education Program
Please secure attendance vouchers through our education coordinators.
Opening Night Party – 7:00 PM - Aquarium of the Bay
Sold Out
Saturday, February 2
Program 1 - 10:00 AM »purchase ticket
Bay Oil Spill Shorts
Why Early Containment Matters
(USA), Ocean Conservancy, 1 min
Spillover
(USA), Steven Johnson, 2 mins
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society: Whales
(USA) Peter Swanzy, 5 mins
International conservation laws and regulations protect the oceans and marine life but, for many reasons, often go unenforced. As “pirates of compassion,” Sea Shepherd never hesitates to take on the pirates of profit. Join Captain Paul Watson as he chases Japanese whaler Nisshin Maru in the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary. — RC
Save the Leatherbacks Campaign
(USA) Keith Harrison Maxwell, 5 mins
The leatherback sea turtle has been the most abundant turtle in the Pacific for over 100 million years but is now in serious decline, with industrial longline fishing contributing to a 95% collapse of turtle nesting numbers since 1980. As Dr. Sylvia Earle here remarks, “as go sea turtles, so will go the ocean.” — RC
Surfing Thru
(USA) Chloe Webb, 25 mins »watch trailer
Three women with late-stage cancer live and surf in the immediacy of the moment. Their attitude, courage, and sharp, dark humor combine with the restorative surge of the ocean beneath them to help them face that one last wave. — MJS
Restoring Balance: Removing the Black Rat from Anacapa Island
(USA) Kevin White, 28 mins »watch trailer
Rats were eating just-laid eggs of endangered birds on Anacapa Island, part of the Channel Islands National Park off Southern California. After years of planning and court battles, the rats were poisoned. Populations of native species—from lizards to mice to birds—encouragingly recovered. Since we’ve helped hitchhiking rats occupy 80 percent of the world’s islands, who or what will stop their devastation of native plants and animals if we don’t? — SH
Ribbon of Sand
(USA) John Grabowska, 26 mins
The storms that sweep across North Carolina’s low-lying Outer Banks are towering in their force, the strongest on the Atlantic Coast. Superb cinematography, Rachel Carson’s poetic words, and music by Bay Area composer Todd Boekelheide capture this geologically dynamic world of marshland, estuaries, sand, and sounds. — SH
Around Tasmania: Sea Kayaking Australia
(USA) Jon Bowermaster, 26 mins »watch trailer
Off remote Tasmania’s wind-lashed, wave-carved coast, explorer Jon Bowermaster and team tackle kayak the biggest seas of their lives. When not braving 40-mph winds and sliding down 20-foot waves, they venture inland to visit with aboriginals and a few million muttonbirds amid magnificent scenery. — MJS
PROGRAM 2 - 1:00 PM »purchase ticket
Bay Oil Spill Video Project
The Beaches are not Clean
(USA), Diane Ely, 2 mins
Oil on Ocean Beach, San Francisco
(USA), Justin Beck, 4 mins
Global Focus: Iceland – Orri Vigfüsson
(USA) Will Parrinello, 5 mins
For years, the numbers of spawning salmon returning to the streams and rivers of Europe’s North Atlantic were steadily dropping. In the early 1990s, Orri Vigfüsson, Icelandic businessman and angler, decided to do something unheard of—negotiate directly with the driftnet fishermen to see if they would shift to another occupation or seek other fish. His success has been remarkable. However, some driftnet fishers were not happy, believing that sport anglers and factory fishing bore equal responsibility. Time will tell. — SH
The Jurassic Journey
(USA) John Dutton, 9 mins »watch trailer
Verging on extinction in the Pacific, giant leatherback turtles have long kept a secret that has eluded scientists. A crack team of research scientists from the Southwest Fisheries Science Center set about to chart this endangered creature's migration and discovered its amazing 6,500-mile journey from the US west coast to nesting beaches in Indonesia.— SH
Bering Sea
(USA) John Whittier, 6 mins
Thrills and chills on the high seas aboard a crab fishing boat—batten down the hatches and put on your sou’wester! — RC
Saving Luna
(Canada) Suzanne Chisholm & Michael Parfitt, 93 mins »watch trailer
The subtleties of relationships between humans and wild animals are explored in this moving feature documentary, which follows the life of Luna, an orphaned baby orca. Luna appears surprisingly far into Nootka Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island, where he befriends and charms the local residents. Seen by some as a treasure and others as a nuisance, Luna’s presence stirs deep conflict within the local community. — RC
Program 3 - 4:00 pm »purchase ticket
Bay Oil Spill Video Project
San Francisco Oil Spill
(USA), Melissa Laine, 4 mins
Pulp, Poo, and Perfection
(Chile) Angel Marin/Josh Berry, 15 mins »watch trailer
Threats to some of Chile’s best surfing and swimming beaches by a sewage pipeline and toxic discharge from pulp mills rouse a chorus of opposition. American environmental activist Josh Berry joins Chilean surfers, activists, fishing folk, and local townspeople to make sure that their voices are not blown away by the usual gusts of hot air. — SH
Sanganeb—Red Sea Atoll
(Netherlands) Edward Snijders, 26 mins
US Premiere
Over 300 species call this pristine coral reef home, among them the 200-pound hump-headed wrasse, which starts life female and changes sex, as needed, in maturity. Deep within the Red Sea, Sanganeb is protected from the worst effects of global warming, but its unique natural equilibrium is still threatened by one of the usual suspects: us. — SH
What’s Killing the Sea Otters?
(USA) Amy Miller, 13 mins
Almost extinct in 1911 and listed as endangered in 1977, California’s coastal sea otters have slowly recovered. Recently, however, their population growth has stalled. Like netting a sleeping otter, finding out why was no easy task. Keeping the otters healthy and growing in number will be harder still. — SH
Scottish Tidal Races
(UK) Justine Curgenven, 15 mins
Fools rush in, they say, and when you see what these sea kayakers paddle into, you have to wonder. Among Great Britain’s best at their sport, they meet their match on Scotland’s west coast where tides rush out of deep firths, or inlets, to create inviting waves and treacherous boils and whirlpools. — SH
Sceillig and Bermuda—A Last Refuge »watch trailer
(Ireland) Éamon de Buitléar, 52 mins
Rabbits and storm petrels—small sea birds—sharing the same burrow? Unheard of—except on Sceillig, off Ireland’s southwest coast. Across the Atlantic, the Bermuda petrel, long thought to be extinct, enjoys man-made digs. Two scientists 2,000 miles apart have dedicated their lives to preserving these superb and endangered ocean flyers. They need all the help they can get, as do many of the world’s sea birds. — SH
Program 4 - 7:30 PM »purchase ticket
Bay Oil Spill Video Project
Golden Gate Oil Spill
(USA), Tyler Manson, 4 mins
Shark Conservation
(USA) Shawn Heinrichs, 2 mins
Up to 100 million sharks are killed each year, pushing all shark species rapidly toward extinction. Many are killed just for their fins, which go into shark-fin soup. Ironically, since sharks are at the top of the food chain, whatever toxics their prey contained tend to be concentrated in shark flesh and fins, which might give one pause about that soup. — SH
Papa Tortuga
(USA) Rob Wilson, 20 mins
In Vera Cruz, Mexico, Fernando Manzano discovers that the local “lora” (Kemp’s Ridley) sea turtle is facing extinction. After three decades battling poachers and natural predators and getting his community involved in conserving the turtles and their winsome, flippered hatchlings, there is hope. — MJS
Palette of the Ocean
(USA) Will Kim, 2 mins
The piscine world of flash and flutter and brilliant color is captured by the animated brush strokes of painter-director Will Kim and the sprightly piano music of Ray Lee. — SH
Higher Ground: The Battle to Save Florida’s Beaches
(USA) Chad Calberg, 20 mins
West Coast Premiere
Florida’s beaches, and the endangered sea turtles that nest there, are under siege from devastating hurricanes, erosion, rising sea levels, and government-sanctioned, high-risk coastal development. This recipe for disaster may ensure that the ultimate tenants of the shorefront high-rises will be fish. — MJS
Titans of the Coral Sea
(New Zealand) Jordan Plotsky, 18 mins
This exquisitely photographed film chronicles the life of the ancient Titan people of Papua New Guinea, subsistence fishermen who have depended on the fish from their reef for 40,000 years. Now they face a dilemma: join the global economy, or preserve their fishery and way of life. — MJS
The Science of Big Waves
(USA) Chris Bauer, 10 mins
Those four-story waves at Mavericks, just south of San Francisco, don’t come out of nowhere. They are spawned by the mother of the North Pacific’s great waves, the Gulf of Alaska, three thousand miles away. One look at an ass-over-teakettle wipe-out on one of these babies will make most of us want to stay clear of their mother. — SH
Sliding Liberia
(Liberia/USA) Britton Caillouette, 48 mins »watch trailer
Four American friends travel to Liberia, West Africa, and find a nation torn apart by recent civil war and the ensuing poverty, displacement, and psychological trauma. Young local surfers are rebuilding their lives on a perfect wave, sliding across the ocean from a painful past into their bold, independent futures. — RC
Sunday, February 3
Program 5 - 10:00 am »purchase ticket
Bay Oil Spill Video Project
Oiled Birds Rescue Center with OWCN
(USA) Revital Katznelson, 3 mins
Oiled Birds Washed and Released!
(USA), Jean Shirley, 2 mins
The Last Wild Oyster
(Australia/New Zealand) Bjorkman Chiswell, 24 mins
World Premiere
Unlovely but luscious, the oyster maintains a tenuous hold on survival in New Zealand’s Foveaux Straits. Authorized over-fishing, dredging, and rampant disease have driven once the world’s richest—and now one of its last—wild oyster fisheries to a crisis point. — MJS
Abridged
(USA) Arjun Rihan, 3 mins
World Premiere
“Mind the gap”and “bridge over troubled waters” take on new meaning in this animated take on “love will find a way.” Jaunty music by Alex Burke keeps things rolling along. — SH
Seal Hunting With Dad
(USA) Andrew MacLean, 10 mins
On the frozen Arctic Ocean off the northern coast of Alaska, an Inupiaq boy learns to hunt seals. With stark visuals and little dialogue, his rite of passage is tempered by the nuances of the father-son relationship. — RC
Symbiosis: Cleaner Shrimp and Fish Clients
(USA) Lucy Marcus, 6 mins
World Premiere
The wispy cleaner shrimp off Loloata Island in Papua New Guinea never seem to get any rest. If it isn’t a barracuda with a toothy grin stopping by, it’s an undulating sea cucumber. And then there’s those extended families of striped this or spotted that. Why, and exactly how, this symbiosis happens is still largely a mystery. — SH
Of Wind and Waves—The Life of Woody Brown
(USA) David L. Brown, 63 mins
Woody Brown wanted to challenge death: to get as close to it as possible and dodge it. As a record-setting glider pilot, a pioneering big-wave Hawaiian surfer, and the inventor of the modern-day catamaran, he did just that. Gifted with unique physical strength and ability, a remarkable outlook on life, and luck, he even did, as this fine film movingly shows, much more. — SH
Program 6 - 1:00 PM »purchase ticket
Bay Oil Spill Video Project
Ocean Beach Oil Spill Clean-Up 11/9/07
(USA), Mark Lukach, 4 mins
S.F. Residents Take to the Water
(USA), Lea Suzuki, 2 min
Protecting New Orleans, Saving Venice
(USA) Marylou Bongiorno, 12 mins »watch trailer
Drawing parallels between the post-Katrina Mississippi Delta and Italy’s Venice, wetlands expert Dr. John Day proposes new solutions to old and emerging problems related to global warming and rising seas in hopes of avoiding future disasters. Can we defend New Orleans and the Gulf Coast from raging storms and stop Venice from slowly sinking? — MJS
The Faroe Islands
(UK) Justine Curgenven, 25 mins
Equidistant from Scotland, Norway, and Greenland, the Faroe Islands rise in isolated splendor from the North Atlantic. In rough water and glassy calm, roaring wind and brilliant sun, a pair of camping sea kayakers discover the birds, spectacular sea cliffs, and warm, welcoming people of these remote islands. — SH
Project Puffin: Restoring Puffins to the Coast of Maine
(USA) Daniel Breton, 20 mins
Atlantic puffins can live to 30, have a call like a creaky hinge, and sport an outrageously large and colorful bill. They are also considered good eating by people and gulls—hence their near demise on Maine’s coastal islands. It took eight years to lure them back to their former nesting sites in a project that has since been a model for other efforts around the world. — SH
Dungeness
(UK) Janette Scott, 21 mins »watch trailer
World Premiere
If you’re thinking crab, you’re in for a surprise, and a different kind of delectable treat. This Dungeness is a small coastal community perched on the southeastern tip of England with a way of life that is teetering on the edge of survival. Its flat, almost rainless terrain is as unique as its fishing families, artists, and purveyors of smoked fish. And then there’s the wind. — SH
Ordinary Won’t Change the World
(UK) Chris Lotz and Lewis Gordon Pugh, 8 mins »watch trailer
West Coast Premiere
Lewis Pugh needs no steamy jungle for his heart of darkness—just a couple of swim caps, goggles, and some lovely open water at the North Pole, where the real polar bears log their miles. — SH
19 Arrests, No Convictions
(USA) Judy Irving, 29 mins
World Premiere
Colorful George Farnsworth, who owned several San Francisco bars, was, at 71, the oldest swimmer to swim from Alcatraz on New Year’s Day. This affectionate film will make you feel like George is an OB, or Old Buddy, the all-purpose moniker for Aquatic Park swimmers. — SH
Program 7 - 4:00 PM »purchase ticket
*Program 7 ticket includes Awards Ceremony and Closing Reception at 7:00 PM
Bay Oil Spill Video Project
Buzz for the Bay
(USA), Mark Lukach, 3 mins
Space Flight Dolphin
(France) Richard Clar, 2 mins
In 1982, NASA approved an art project for an inflatable dolphin, a sculpture-satellite that transmits dolphin voices into the vast oceans of deep space. Will these magnetoacoustic waves—undecipherable to humans—be recognizable to another extraterrestrial intelligence? — RC
Returning Home: Bringing the Common Murre back to Devil’s Slide Rock (USA) Kevin White, 24 mins »watch trailer
In 1986, an oil spill devastated the colony of Common Murres at Devil’s Slide Rock near San Francisco. With a biologist’s version of “smoke and mirror” technology and the help of local schools and government agencies, these birds are once again breeding on their ancestral home. — MJS
Troubled Waters
(India) Sumer Verma, 16 mins
When 1998’s El Niño raises the water temperature around Lakshadweep’s coral reefs off India’s west coast, the coral dies. By 2003, when this exquisitely photographed film was made, the reef was recovering. Nature can restore itself, but it needs our help. This film asks whether we will do enough before it is too late. — SH
Sand Dancer
(New Zealand) Valerie Reid, 10 mins »watch trailer
Moving to the rhythms of the sea, expressionist Peter Donnelly sculpts exquisite but ephemeral patterns in the sands of New Zealand's Brighton Beach. This magical, award-winning documentary beautifully profiles this iconic artist as he creates his gifts to the ocean. — MJS
Dubside
(Canada) Bryan Smith, 11 mins »watch trailer
Into a bag and onto a bus—that’s how car-free Dubside gets his folding kayak to his paddling put-ins. Deftly handling that kayak is no mean feat, but it’s nothing compared to how Dubside folds and unfolds himself when he’s roping and rolling. — SH
A Man Among Orcas
(France) Jean-Francois Barthod, 52 mins
David Reichert goes to the Crozet Islands, 1500 miles southeast of South Africa, to film the resident family of orcas. His beach buddies are four-ton elephant seal bulls, their curious offspring, and emperor penguins. Reichert and Barthod reveal with unblinking vision the beauty, humor, and harsh drama of this storm-swept world. — SH
Filmmaker awards presentation & closing reception- 7:00 PM
free to all festival pass holders and Program 7 individual ticket purchasers
Our thanks to volunteer reviewers Rachel Caplan (RC), Sidney Hollister (SH) and Mary Jane Schramm (MJS)