You are invited to attend a special night of short underwater themed films by great amateur and professional producers. These films will show off the diversity and wonders of our blue planet.
The festival aims to be held internationally in its 2nd year in Fremantle, Western Australia, Auckland and Raglan, New Zealand, Amed, Sanur and Tejakula, Indonesia.
Seats are limited so get ticketed quickly! See our event poster here and our media release here.
Why It Matters
The night aims to:
- Raise awareness about Maui Dolphins' critically endangered status and how important people power is for creating positive change for our Underwater World.
- Raise funds for a Maui Dolphin Conservation Fund to enact effective means addressing some of the key issues facing Maui Dolphins' and all other marine life: Overfishing, Pollution, Dead Zones, Coral Depletion, Acidification.
- Provide education about the importance of Marine Biodiversity Conservation and the precious nature of our Underwater World by using the talents of the vast ocean of film-makers within our global community.
Our Story
The Fremantle Underwater Film Festival is the brain-child of local Fremantle residents, Adam and Tania. Realizing the great capacity of friends and fellow freediving spearfishers to capture epic ocean adventures and exciting moments under the sea, they set out to create an avenue with which this footage could be shared.
Our Project
Being avid sea nomads and having a passion for the aquatic realm extended the film festival over-arching theme to marine biodiversity conservation, with five (5) naturally evolving film categories for the 2016 festival:
1) Sustainable Seafood,
2) Ocean Tourism,
3) Human & Ocean,
4) Maui Dolphins
5) Ocean Ecosystems
THE UNDERWATER SHORT FILM CATEGORIES
1) SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD
Unsustainable commercial fishing has kicked the butt of fish stocks around the world and unscrupulous long-liners have silenced many local reefs. In a bid to highlight some of the more sustainable methods of fishing in our modern age, the SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD film category was designed to entertain with footage of spearfishing, in particular, demonstrating how getting in touch with nature, understanding the basics of fish biology and fishing for the future can also involve catching your dinner.
Spearfishing is an inherently selective fishing method. Learning the art of carefully stalking and dispensing a fish at sea fulfills both a primal urge to hunt as well as hones ones’ instincts underwater. Spearing a legal and decidedly delicious fish species, when it flows before your crosshairs, is a mixture of local knowledge of regulations, marine species identification, personal ethics and pulling the trigger. The patient breath-holding hunter activates their sensory awareness in an environment alive with the improvised performance of ocean organisms, themselves unaware of the captivating and alien nature of their existence to an onlooking and largely land-based mammal – the human being
2) OCEAN TOURISM
OCEAN TOURISM is a growing trend, especially encounters with wildlife underwater. We encourage eco-tourism ventures to share their stories here as well as innovative and expressive adventures that bring those who may be disadvantaged, opportunities to connect with nature under the sea.
3) HUMAN & OCEAN
The HUMAN & OCEAN film category was designed as a celebration of freediving as a sport while doffing a hat to one of its greatest leaders, legendary freediver Jacques Mayol. Having visited the fabled dive site of Jacques, Isola d’Elba or Elba Island in Italy, it is not hard to be inspired by the lustrous turquoise blue waters that provided the backdrop for some amazing feats of human endurance. Jacques had an affinity with the sea and especially echolocating lifeforms such as the dolphin. In his book Homo delphinus, Jacques conferred his understanding of the relationship of man with dolphin while also sharing his thoughts on his freediving world. Jacques inspired the likes of Umberto Pellizzari to reach new depths and with his explorations of the underwater world and encounters with dolphins in the wild, he encouraged a whole generation of freedivers to consider their relationship with the sea. This film category hopes to encourage ocean film-makers to share their unique perspective and also their personal bond with the sea, explored through the medium of breath-hold diving. It is not limited to freediving underwater short films but we encourage this activity to inspire these films.
4) MAUI DOLPHINS
The heart and soul of this not-for-profit film festival is the critically endangered Maui Dolphin, Cephalorhynchus hectori maui. New Zealand’s’ endemic sub-species of north island cetacean, the Maui Dolphin, has been dubbed the ‘Hobbit of the Sea’. These lovable little critters are barely 1.4m in length and have been subjected to the detrimental effects of such human practises as gill-netting and seismic testing, reducing their populations to a reported 45 adults in 2015. In 2016, we aim to raise awareness about the plight of this tiny dolphin and its struggle for a peaceful, coastal existence. Recognizable by its Mickey Mouse ear-shaped dorsal fin, the Maui Dolphin is unique in both its small size as well as its interesting morphology. Like many of us that love the ocean, fish in its waters and play in its waves, the Maui Dolphin is at home in the shallow coastal waters and is plagued by damaging user conflicts. Seeing your family dying, entangled and trapped in destructive fishing gear would be a tragedy but such is the plight of Maui in the western waters of northern New Zealand. By sharing the story of the Maui Dolphins’ as part of our festival content, it is hoped that with raising awareness about this little battler, we will help reduce or put an end to its rapidly encroaching extinction.
5) OCEAN ECOSYSTEMS
The OCEAN ECOSYSTEMS film category was meant to represent the general and artistic expressions of all underwater advocates, not necessarily those that conform to the usual genera of underwater video themes. So far, short film entries in the competition within this category have ranged from invasive-lionfish hunting and underwater artistic impressions, to the Brazilian conservation efforts for the ‘mero’ and sinking naval ships to create artificial reefs for habitat. If you can dream it under the water, then your film fits into this short film category. Animation and other formats also welcomed! We encourage science and technolgy films to fit into this theme.
Why Shoot an Underwater Film?
Show family and friends how you love to spend your time Explore the art form of underwater film making Learn a new skill such as how to edit footage, mount a GoPro on a pole or affix an underwater head camera to your self Share a story of the sea, information on a favourite species, images of a beloved offshore reef or details on your particular methods of underwater activity Demonstrate the use of a new piece of underwater gadgetry Show off your underwater wizard skills by making a rabbitfish swim out of an unoccupied commercial divers’ hard hat
Our Team
Adam Coy - Co-Founder
Tania Douthwaite - Co-Founder
Drop us a line for more info or to chat about marine biodiverity conservation, Maui Dolphins, where your local screenig could or should be and to share how you can help us make this one awesome event for our oceans!
How You Can Help
By a ticket on Eventbrite and encourage friends, your sport club or anyone who loves a good flick to join you at one of our festival locations to see the screening.
Join our community on Facebook
Enter the underwater short film competition
View our YouTube video
Donate to our StartSomeGood campaign and follow our progress!