Ocean Film Festival Festival Theatre Edinburgh 12th February 2023 Review
Image John Kowitz
Ocean Film Festival returned to The Festival Theatre Edinburgh this evening (Sunday 12th February) and, as with previous years, the films in this new 2023 programme focused both on people who have a special relationship with the water and often the marine life that it supports. The fragile balance of the rivers, seas and oceans of planet Earth and all life living upon it was again in focus as sadly mankind’s misuse of our fragile eco-systems seems to be constantly increasing and marine life in all its myriad forms is often at the sharp edge of this problem.
In contrast to some previous years, the 2023 selection of films very much shifts the focus from some of the larger scale (and often corporate) marine challenges that are out there to the far more individual relationships that some people have with the water and its inhabitants, and for me this allowed the spirit and humanity of the people in these films to shine through everything on film.
As usual, there is room in the Ocean Film Festival for film entries of many different types – large or small, all film makers have a place here and a chance for final selection into the programme, and the running time for 2023 films ranged from 5/6 minutes to 39 minutes.
As always, space for this review only allows me to give an overview of this evening’s programme, but a link to the Ocean Film Festival website is at the end to let anyone who is interested in more information do so.
This year, the restorative, almost mystical, power of the water itself was very much a theme of more than a few of the films this evening, and none more so than “I am Ocean”, a 9 minute film featuring Australian diver, oceanographer and underwater photographer PT Hirschfield. This amazing woman is so full of simply being alive and being able to experience the wonders of the life that she encounters whilst diving and share that with people through her photography. What started as a celebration of this underwater world has also now become in part a distress call to highlight the ecological damage and at times outright physical abuse that some marine life, in this case stingrays, meet at the hands of man.
Making this story so powerful is the fact that PT Hirschfield was diagnosed with terminal cancer some 11 years ago and at the outset only expected to live another few years past her diagnosis. Thankfully, this strong minded woman is still with us and putting so much of her not only quality of life, but now extended life, down to the relationship that she has with the water and its recuperative effects upon her short term and long term health.
Other films which touch upon this very spiritual connection with the water and its help in recovering from injury or potentially life changing events included two surfing films –“Mar” and “Rebirth”.
If humanity is to survive in the long term future, we need to re-examine not only our wrongly perceived importance on planet Earth, but also how we share and interact with other life on it and, thankfully, there are a few individuals out there who not only know these facts, but somehow have formed a very special bond with some of the non-human inhabitants of this wonderful world.
To most of us, even those who have never been somewhere where they are likely to encounter one, just the word shark conjures up all sorts of nightmares, and perhaps the film “Jaws” has a lot to do with this problem. Some people, though, do not fear sharks and have a very different viewpoint of them. One such special person is Jim Abernethy featured in “Tiger (Shark) King”. After removing a fishing hook from the jaws of a tiger shark some 20 years ago, Jim has since removed thousands of hooks from sharks in the clear waters off the Bahamas and built up a very special and unique relationship with them that has allowed him to experience a very different side to one of the ocean’s apex predators.
Also highlighting the work of one man and his relationship with marine life, “Eyre & Sea” focused on the remote Eyre Peninsula in South Australia and a town with only three inhabitants, one of them being Alan, a man with a special relationship with a colony of endangered seals.
The longest film in this programme, at 39 minutes was “Circumnavigate”. Here we followed, Brendon Prince from South Devon on his adventure as he set out to become the first person ever to circumnavigate around mainland Britain on a stand-up paddleboard. Some people might call this idea madness as with only a paddleboard between you and the waters below it, you are at the mercy of everything that the winds, the waves and water currents can throw at you. There was a reason for all of this though, to raise awareness of water safety education, something that Brendon is convinced should be taught in schools from an early age to people who live on an island.
Whatever your involvement with the water, whether that be experiencing it from the comfort of your seat in the theatre, or being out there yourself to experience it first-hand, there is something for everyone in this year’s Ocean Film Festival.
Visit www.oceanfilmfestival.co.uk for more information on films in this 2023 programme.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
In contrast to some previous years, the 2023 selection of films very much shifts the focus from some of the larger scale (and often corporate) marine challenges that are out there to the far more individual relationships that some people have with the water and its inhabitants, and for me this allowed the spirit and humanity of the people in these films to shine through everything on film.
As usual, there is room in the Ocean Film Festival for film entries of many different types – large or small, all film makers have a place here and a chance for final selection into the programme, and the running time for 2023 films ranged from 5/6 minutes to 39 minutes.
As always, space for this review only allows me to give an overview of this evening’s programme, but a link to the Ocean Film Festival website is at the end to let anyone who is interested in more information do so.
This year, the restorative, almost mystical, power of the water itself was very much a theme of more than a few of the films this evening, and none more so than “I am Ocean”, a 9 minute film featuring Australian diver, oceanographer and underwater photographer PT Hirschfield. This amazing woman is so full of simply being alive and being able to experience the wonders of the life that she encounters whilst diving and share that with people through her photography. What started as a celebration of this underwater world has also now become in part a distress call to highlight the ecological damage and at times outright physical abuse that some marine life, in this case stingrays, meet at the hands of man.
Making this story so powerful is the fact that PT Hirschfield was diagnosed with terminal cancer some 11 years ago and at the outset only expected to live another few years past her diagnosis. Thankfully, this strong minded woman is still with us and putting so much of her not only quality of life, but now extended life, down to the relationship that she has with the water and its recuperative effects upon her short term and long term health.
Other films which touch upon this very spiritual connection with the water and its help in recovering from injury or potentially life changing events included two surfing films –“Mar” and “Rebirth”.
If humanity is to survive in the long term future, we need to re-examine not only our wrongly perceived importance on planet Earth, but also how we share and interact with other life on it and, thankfully, there are a few individuals out there who not only know these facts, but somehow have formed a very special bond with some of the non-human inhabitants of this wonderful world.
To most of us, even those who have never been somewhere where they are likely to encounter one, just the word shark conjures up all sorts of nightmares, and perhaps the film “Jaws” has a lot to do with this problem. Some people, though, do not fear sharks and have a very different viewpoint of them. One such special person is Jim Abernethy featured in “Tiger (Shark) King”. After removing a fishing hook from the jaws of a tiger shark some 20 years ago, Jim has since removed thousands of hooks from sharks in the clear waters off the Bahamas and built up a very special and unique relationship with them that has allowed him to experience a very different side to one of the ocean’s apex predators.
Also highlighting the work of one man and his relationship with marine life, “Eyre & Sea” focused on the remote Eyre Peninsula in South Australia and a town with only three inhabitants, one of them being Alan, a man with a special relationship with a colony of endangered seals.
The longest film in this programme, at 39 minutes was “Circumnavigate”. Here we followed, Brendon Prince from South Devon on his adventure as he set out to become the first person ever to circumnavigate around mainland Britain on a stand-up paddleboard. Some people might call this idea madness as with only a paddleboard between you and the waters below it, you are at the mercy of everything that the winds, the waves and water currents can throw at you. There was a reason for all of this though, to raise awareness of water safety education, something that Brendon is convinced should be taught in schools from an early age to people who live on an island.
Whatever your involvement with the water, whether that be experiencing it from the comfort of your seat in the theatre, or being out there yourself to experience it first-hand, there is something for everyone in this year’s Ocean Film Festival.
Visit www.oceanfilmfestival.co.uk for more information on films in this 2023 programme.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
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