The big blue ponder
See movies that make you think at Newport’s Big Blue Film Fest
The Big Blue Film Fest returns to Newport with nearly twice the number of films and expanded venues this Friday and Saturday, Jan. 26 and 27.
Friday’s opening night reception will have a screening of award winners and an awards ceremony, with complimentary food and drinks.
The festival showcases films at the confluence of marine science, humanities and the arts. It is an opportunity to raise awareness about issues affecting the world's oceans and coastal communities, as well as engage the public in scientific research in an entertaining way.
This year, 155 films were submitted to the festival by filmmakers from 39 countries. The final selection includes 27 films; five from Oregon producers. The films are grouped into six two-hour blocks and will be shown at Hatfield's Gladys Valley Marine Studies Building and the Newport Performing Arts Center.
Featured films include:
• “The Ocean's Greatest Feast” by Danielle Govender. Every winter, South Africa's east coast sees billions of sardines converge in the biggest biomass migration on the planet. As they move up the coast, this four-mile-long shoal faces a range of predators, from seals in an ancient colony to Cape gannets launching aerial attacks and hundreds of hungry sharks that corral the sardines into bait balls. A super pod of dolphins arrives, and the sardine numbers are decimated. Everything favors the predators until the Orcas come.
• “Echoes From The Blue Meadow" a student film by Héctor Hernández. Motivated by the dream of being a marine biologist, Itzel is the first Mexican researcher to be part of the Gulf Listen international network for acoustic monitoring of cetaceans. Through anecdotes and experiences, she presents a fascinating tour of her profession. With first-class marine photographers and a sound mastering by Grammy nominee, Simon Gibson, it is an audiovisual experience that shows how exciting, risky and amazing the world of marine biology is.
• “A’ai” by Kalie Granier. This first film in the Esselen language opens with pelican announcing the funeral dance of its kelp forest to an Ohlone Costanoan Esselen Nation woman. The project illustrates communication and collaboration between living species during a time when 90 percent of the kelp forest of California has disappeared. It is a narrative about a marine ecosystem in danger, narrated by a pelican calling for help. Will we be able to protect the seaweed which we all depend on to survive? Together, the kelp forest, the pelican and the Native American woman weave a sensitive relationship of trust to spread the ocean’s warning. The sharing of ecological knowledge is an important response to the crises in which our lives are entangled.
The festival honors the legacy of Maryann Bozza, who conceived the original Hatfield Marine Science Center Film Festival, which ran from 2016 to 2019. Bozza, a program manager at Hatfield who served on the leadership team for the Marine Studies Initiative, died in 2017.
The festival offers multiple ticket options, including an All Access Pass that includes the opening night social for $55. Individual film block tickets are $15 adults or $12 students and Oregon Coast Council for the Arts members, while tickets to the opening night reception are $20. Tickets can be purchased in advancecoastarts.org/events/big-blue-24 and also available at the Newport Performing Arts Center's ticket office or by calling 541-265-ARTS. Tickets might be available at the door if a block of films is not sold out.
For a full schedule of film blocks, times and locations, go to bigbluefilmfest.com.