For the third year in a row, the San Francisco-based International Ocean Film Festival returns to Miami Beach in celebration of World Ocean Day. This year, however, Blue Scholars has joined forces with a group of ocean loving NGOs to launch the IOFF Florida Tour, screening some of the best, award-winning films of the IOFF 20th Anniversary celebration.
On June 3rd, please join Blue Scholars and ARTSail for a special night of impact speakers and films at the W South Beach. Part of the World Ocean Weekend Celebration, the evening kicks off at 5:00PM with the Sheroes of the Ocean panel and reception. At 7:00PM, IOFF Director Ana Blanco will introduce the films that will take us around the world to witness the beauty and energy of the ocean, and connect us to its remarkable inhabitants and staunch advocates, all while inspiring us to act on their behalf. Check out the selection of films below to be screened in Miami Beach and be sure to reserve your tickets today!
SATURDAY, JUNE 3, 2023
5:00PM - 9:00PM
W SOUTH BEACH
2201 COLLINS AVE, MIAMI BEACH
~ Purchase TICKETS ~
Blue Carbon
Paul Nicklen (USA) 3 min
Narrated by Cristina Mittemeier, co-founder of SeaLegacy, and the 2021 IOFF Ocean Champion, this film reminds us of the importance of our oceans in heeding the call of the UN Decade of the Ocean for Sustainable Development. This short film emphasizes that the relationship between our ocean, the air, and the land is critical for a successful blue economy and healthy ecosystems – but only if we act now.
HUFF
David Mangum (USA) 7 min
Discover the beauty and mysteries of the Florida Everglades through the eyes of Steve, a legendary tarpon guide and longtime resident of the area who discovered fishing at the age of 10. Over the years he has seen how the quiet landscape of wildlife and lush mangroves have changed. An intimate story of the connections we make with nature and how the bond holds over time.
And Yet, I Remain
Rick Wall (South Africa) 8 min
A South African body-surfer who loses his leg to a great white shark, later returns to the sea as a freediver to heal. Beneath the surface, he forms a deeper relationship with the sea and the species that took his limb. He discovers a sense of humility and connectedness he had not previously known, and learns that acceptance is not resignation.
Hypnotise
Ste Everington (Australia) 4 min
Hypnotize is a visual orchestra, a film to enjoy through the senses. A sunken ship, transformed by 17 years beneath the waves, has become part of the habitat of some 200 species of fish. Dive in and enjoy the beauty, rhythm, and visual feast of this short movie.
Back to the Sea
Jack Gordon (USA) 6 min
Unable to swim and afraid of the deep, Aunofo Havea Funaki began her seafaring life at age 25. Seventeen years later she became the first licensed female captain in Polynesia. As she reconciles and honors her father’s whaling heritage, she is transforming how younger generations in Tonga relate to the sea through ecotourism instead of slaughter. “The whales connect us to our history.”
Bottle Cap
Marie Hyon and Marco Spier (USA) 5 min
Fiddler crabs are distinctive for their two claws of unequal size. When Shelton, a fiddler crab, finds a plastic bottle cap he is elated that he has found the perfect prosthesis—or is it? The usefulness and bounty of plastic may not be what Shelton thinks.
Washed Ashore
Ley Heimgartner & Cameron Nielsen (USA) 16 min
Since 2019, 500 gray whales have washed ashore along their annual West Coast migration route, succumbing either to starvation, net entanglement or ship strike. Biologists from Canada, the US and Mexico are trying to learn why so many are being affected.
Seagrass for Sea Change
Whitney Beer-Kerr (Australia) 12 min
Posidonia seagrasses, which are an important habitat, an effective form of carbon capture, and a stabilizing factor for the shoreline, are diminishing worldwide. Boat moorings with dragging chains destroy seagrass meadows. This film documents a pilot program to restore the seagrasses in Botany Bay, Sydney, by replacing the moorings and enlisting the public to collect seagrass shoots for replanting.
Gender Outlaw, a bodysurfing story
Peter Williams & Tyler Wilde (USA) 16 min
Tyler Wilde is a bodysurfer and physical education teacher in Manhattan Beach, CA. When Tyler discovered the sport of bodysurfing and joined the “Gillis Beach Bodysurfing Association” he was faced with challenges of personal sex change and acceptance, both physical and emotional. Unexpectedly, Tyler’s classroom students and surfing friends provided Tyler with inspiration and support while he reconciled with his new identity.
The Ocean Solution
Darcy Hennessey Turenne (USA) 14 min
Farming under the sea? Meet Bren Smith, the ocean farming pioneer whose vertical kelp and shellfish farms are transforming the way food is produced. He discovered a new method of restorative ocean farming, producing large quantities of nutritious food while fighting the climate crisis, cleaning the ocean, creating aquatic habitat, and sustaining his organic sea-fairing way of life.