This Friday, April 14, San Francisco City Hall will be “lit blue” to salute the 20th Annual International Ocean Film Festival . The Festival runs April 13 – 16 at San Francisco’s Cowell Theatre at Fort Mason and San Rafael’s Smith Theatre.
“Thank you San Francisco,” said Ana Blanco, Executive Director for the Festival. “We are greatly honored to have San Francisco’s iconic City Hall lit blue in honor of our 20th anniversary. This Friday, we encourage everyone to capture the moment, and post your photos online, using the hashtags #ioff20 and #oceanfilmfest. This Friday, remember to ‘look up’ at the SF City Hall dome!”
This year’s 20th Annual International Ocean Film Festival is marked with four days of ocean-focused, independent films. In addition, the Festival will host lively Q&A panels with film directors, marine scientists, and industry experts, as they discuss the films and share insights into ocean conservation, preservation, and legislation.
The Festival accepts films of all genres that focus on any of the varied aspects of our big, blue ocean. Subject matter ranges from, but is not limited to, marine wildlife, conservation efforts, ocean environments, coastal cultures, ocean sports and exploration, ocean heroes, and innovative technology designed to help protect the ocean. Films can be documentaries, narratives, shorts, animation, and full-length films from around the world. A number of finalists from the main film festival program will be selected to participate in the world-renowned International Ocean Film Festival Traveling Program. This year’s film categories include Environmental, Marine Sciences/Wildlife, Exploration & Ocean Sports, Coastal Island Culture. Animation, Conservation, Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Shorts and Female Directors.
Sponsors for this year’s festival include RingCentral, Jenga Ocean, Hapag Lloyd, RBC Wealth Management, PADI, PADI Club, The Philippine Office of Tourism, Thor Hope Foundation, Dynamico Space and the Consul General of Canada in San Francisco.
Since its launch in 2004, the San Francisco-based International Ocean Film Festival has attracted thousands of spectators of all ages from around the world, including film enthusiasts, sea athletes, educators, and environmental supporters. Since then, the Festival has presented over 815 films from 40 different countries and featured post-film Q&A sessions with visiting filmmakers, special panel discussions with content experts, and the Annual Free Student Education Program. It was the first event of its kind in North America, inspired by the well-established ocean festival in Toulon, France, which has continued to draw large audiences for more than 40 years.
Below is the full list (in alphabetical order by title, followed by director, country of origin and running time) for this year’s 20th Anniversary Festival.
- And yet, I remain, Rick Wall (South Africa) 8 min
- The Arctic Halocline, Amy Lauren (USA) 21 min
- Big Wave Guardians, Luke Stirtz (USA) 90 min
- Blue Carbon, Paul Nicklen (USA) 3 min
- Bottle Cap, Marie Hyon & Marco Spier (USA) 5 min
- Changing Seas: Vanishing Whales, Alexa Elliott (USA) 27 min
- Cold Refuge, Judy Irving (USA) 79 min
- Collision, Philip Hamilton (London, UK) 80 min
- Deep Look: Barnacles Go to Unbelievable Lengths to Hook Up, Josh Cassidy (USA) 4 min
- Deep Look: Skeleton Shrimp Use 18 Appendages to Feed, Fight and… Frolic, Mike Seely (USA) 5 min
- Deep Rising, Matthieu Rytz (USA) 98 min
- Fishing Into the Future: A San Diego Story, Lindsay Bauman & Andrea Sanchez Davidson (USA) 5 min
- Gender Outlaw, A Bodysurfing Story, Peter Williams (USA) 16 min
- The Gift of Bathsheba, Zach Hellmuth (USA) 4 min
- Havana Libre, Corey McLean (USA) 85 min
- Horseshoe Crabs: Survival of a Living Dinosaur, Andrea Kramar (USA) 6 min
- Huff, David Mangum (USA) 7 min
- Hypnotise, Ste Everington (Australia) 4 min
- I Want Sun, Manlio David Martinez (Honduras) 30 min
- The Impossible Wave, Jessica Frankovelgia Johnson & Jay Johnson (USA) 40 min 2023 Female Filmmaker Award
- Inseparable: Ava, Andrew Harrison Brown (USA) 11 min
- Mediterranean LIFE UNDER SIEGE, Fred Fougea (France) 91 min
- Molokai and the Frog, José Gerardo Flores Ruiz (Mexico) 19 min
- New Boats, Lansana Mansaray (Sierra Leone) 50 min
- Patrick and the Whale, Mark Fletcher (Austria) 72 min
- Planting Coral Forests, Johann Vorster (Kenya) 27 min
- PLSTC, Laen Sanches (France) 2 min
- Restoring the Farallon Islands: A Critical Conservation Opportunity, Brandon Schilling (USA) 4 min
- Rise of the Clambassador, Alexander Davidowski (USA) 8 min
- Robots in the Deep, Leo Richards (UK) 13 min
- SAGRES, José Eduardo Zuzarte (Portugal) 44 min
- SB2508: A Death Threat to Everglades Restoration, Noah Alexander Miller (USA) 30 min
- Seagrass for Sea Change, Whitney Beer-Kerr (Australia) 12 min
- The Shark with a Thousand Names, Hendrik Sebastian Schmitt (Germany) 18 min
- The Storm Chaser, Jack Pirie (UK) 7 min
- Tangled in the Tides, Henk Ekermans & Barend van der Watt (South Africa) 50 min
- Truluck, Matt Cannon & Jake Smallwood (UK) 20 min
- Washed Ashore, Ley Heimgartner & Cameron Nielsen (USA) 16 min
- Windshipped, Jon Bowermaster (USA) 39 min
- VR Film: 360 Sea Plastic, Narrated by Tim Robbins (USA) 7 min
- VR FIlm: Dive into Sipidan (Malaysia) 7 min
- VR Film: Roots to Reef 360 (Singapore) 16 min