A stranded sailor yearning for hot chips, a marine biologists riding a humpback whale and an adorable boxfish pooping are some of the unique ocean vignettes that make up this year’s Ocean Film Festival.
The annual festival, now in its 11th year, is again making its way around the UK this autumn.
The collection of six films alternate between the sincere, irreverent and joyful but all clearly created out of a passion for the ocean.
So how were the films and is it worth a visit?
The Call of the Cold
Filmmaker: Brian Hockenstein | 11 minutes
Three friends travel to Iceland to combine freediving, surfing and ice climbing into a single trip, ostensibly to ‘explore water in all its forms’. The Call of the Cold is an easy watch, combining the barren beauty of Iceland with great footage of exciting activities, that I really wanted to like. It’s a shame the overall experience felt lightweight. It’s pretty but in truth devoid of any real message, purpose or jeopardy.
Tess Felix: Portrait of an Artist
Filmmaker: Cynthia Abbott | 7 minutes
How much can you do with plastic waste from the ocean? It turns out quite a lot. Artist Tess Felix’s work is focused on creating something positive out of this discarded debris through her art. A concise film that doesn’t overstay its welcome.
Ice Maiden
Filmmaker: Nathaniel CT Jackson | 59 minutes
The literal and figurative centre piece of this year’s festival. Ice Maiden follows the attempt of Australian sailor Lisa Blair to become the first women to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around Antartica. The freezing seas and huge storms of the Southern Ocean make it a record attempt fraught with danger. The film combines archival, self-shot and the odd reactant to tell Lisa’s story.
It’s a thrilling ride as Lisa struggles against the elements while pushing her boat to its limits. The film’s greatest success is so effectively putting the viewing in the boat alongside her for the action. You feel cold and wet watching Lisa struggle to keep her record attempt on track. The only complaint I can level is it could be longer. I got the impression it may have been a challenge to get this cut down to under an hour for the festival.
The Whale Song
Filmmaker: Marco Verhagen | 18 minutes
Now here is an odd film. It follows the experiences of marine biologist Nan Hauser and her work with humpback whales. In parallel we’re introduced to Dutch DJ Sam Feldt as he explains how he sampled whale song and incorporated it into his music. Like his music, the film is a fairly strange mashup and one I’m still trying to work out if I enjoyed.
Metropolis
Filmmaker: Luca Keller | 14 minutes
It’s hard for smaller productions to compete with big-budget broadcasters for sheer spectacle in wildlife films. So Metropolis did the right thing keeping things small. It sticks with an intimate view of 24 hours on a single stretch of Indonesian reef. Its lighthearted narration and overall tone was a welcome contrast to some of the other films in the festival.
There’s wonderful footage of boxfish (pooing as mentioned), bobtale squid, nudibranch and a wonderpus. Nothing that a well travelled diver wouldn’t have seen but packaged into a charming 14 minute film. It’s the sort of wildlife film to watch with your kids
The Call
Filmmaker: Nolan Grose | 11 minutes
I’ve always wondered what I would do if diving was taken away from me or my ability to do it fundamentally altered. I’ve never managed to satisfactorily answer it to myself so maybe I’d just have to take up golf. Surfer and photographer Mike Coots faced such a question when he lost his leg to a shark attack at the age of 18. However, his response was clear. He’s passionately devoted himself to becoming passionate advocate for shark conservation. It’s a warm and uplifting tale.
Final Thoughts
The Ocean Film Festival is a broad church. The pleasure is the opportunity to see such a variety of films and experiences documented by people with diverse ocean interests. As someone primarily interested in what’s under the water I enjoyed seeing the adventures of sailors, surfers and artists.
Not every film may be to your taste but the film festival format helps to make the overall event something greater than the sum of its parts. If you can, I would recommend getting down to your local showing as it tours the country.
The Ocean Film Festival 2024 tour runs until the end of November and tickets are still available
