THE MARINE SPOTLIGHT

ONTARIO PREMIERE – These gentle giants no longer die of natural causes. Instead, they are run over by ships or suffer lethal injuries from fishing gear. Over the past decade they’ve been dying at a rate of 24 per year. This staggering death toll is fueling a movement to save the first great whale to face extinction. Last of the Right Whales is the story of a disparate group of people – a wildlife photographer, a marine biologist, a whale rescuer, and a crab fisher – united in their cause to save the North Atlantic right whale. By joining forces these formidable allies are determined to stop the world’s first great whale extinction. The film combines the 4K cinematography of a blue-chip nature film with the character-driven, vérité storytelling of a high-stakes drama. With unprecedented access to film the migration of the North Atlantic right whale from their calving ground off the coast of Florida to their new feeding area in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, this feature documentary brings a message of hope about the most at-risk, great whale on the planet.

The Marine Action Impact Panel will be accessible across the country during the festival dates, panelists will include:

The film screening will take place as a live stream event in Ontario only at 7pm ET on Sunday, October 24th followed by a Q&A with director/producer Nadine Pequeneza and composer Deanna H. Choi.

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The Royal Ontario Museum’s Great Whales: Up Close and Personal

The Southern Resident Orca population of the Pacific Northwest is facing extinction due to a multitude of reasons, including declining salmon stocks, climate change, dams, increasing vessel traffic, pipelines and pollutants. For two young female filmmakers, this crisis sparks a stunning journey across the Pacific Northwest, joining activists, scientists and Indigenous leaders, to uncover corruption and stop injustice before it’s too late. In Coextinction, directors Gloria Pancrazi and Elena Jean draw on their personal fascination of the iconic orca to show its interconnectedness between its natural ecology and the human environment. They wish to show that our choices have consequences, and that perhaps the orcas are trying to warn us.

Panelists:

From the Wild Sea is a poetic documentary that looks at the consequences of mankind’s industrial impact on marine wildlife, looking at the complex collision between human and nature. Oscillating between the perspective of humans and animals around the coastal region of the British Isles, the film follows the efforts of field scientists, veterinarians and a volunteer marine animal rescue and rehabilitation crew. Their mission is to rescue marine mammals from life-threatening elements that challenge their existence, from oil and debris to violent weather fuelled by climate change. Director Robin Petré creates an intimate visual experience that follows the animals through rehabilitation, exploring how we are all connected in an immense, nuanced system stretching far beyond the human race.

THE MARINE SHORTS

Antonese tells guests every day how to access a nearby beach that is one of the most beautiful in all The Bahamas. Yet, she has never been herself. This is not an uncommon scenario for many Bahamians—that a history of colonialism, servitude, and the transatlantic slave trade has created barriers to their most accessible resource, the ocean.

Follow a group of scientists working to understand the movements of the world’s largest fish – the whale shark.The scientists of the Galapagos Whale Shark Project head north to Darwin Island to uncover the secrets of these ocean giants.

Rise From the Cape Flats is about a man who lives in one of the most dangerous places in the world. After one life changing encounter upon experiencing the ocean, he now does everything in his power to advocate for positive change within his community through education and affording the youth to experience the ocean, becoming advocates and protectors.