To mark World Ocean Day join ORCA members, Rebecca Olive and Fiona Hillary, for an immersive festival of short films highlighting the ordinary and profound impacts that everyday interactions with the ocean can have on our lives, and the responsibility we feel in safeguarding itss future.

The program includes exclusive screenings from the team at Great Southern Reef, as well as breath taking short films from artists and researchers from Australia, Ireland, the UK and USA. Over the course of the evening hear from the filmmakers and immerse yourselves in films that ask you to consider relationships of human-ocean health and wellbeing and how our ocean interactions alert us to pressing issues affecting our marine ecosystems. 

A portion of profits from tickets will go to The Great Southern Reef Foundation.

Image Credit: Mick Sowry

Sea Country (2022)

Sea Country is a Great Southern Reef Film directed by Stefan Andrews and co-produced by Scott Bennett. Featuring the stories of Dean Vicki, Rob and Maddie Anders who have a deep connection to the coast and ocean. Their cultural practices connect them to the past, enrich the present and inspire their futures. This is their connection to sea country.

Language: English | 15.17mins | AU

Lunar Cycle (2018)

Directed by Andrew Kaineder, and written by and starring surfer, Easkey Britton, this film explores the importance of cycles – of bodies, seasons, tides, and the moon – on how we connect to ourselves and to the places we live. Take an emotive journey through the places in-between, where instability reigns supreme. Embracing the imperfections as we connect with ourselves and the environment around us.

Language: English | 5.15mins | IRE

Polluted Leisure (2019)

An award-winning film by Clifton Evers and James Davoll, based on research with men who surf in the cold waters of North-East England. Polluted Leisure explores the less romantic experiences of a life lived for surfing in the ocean. Surfing is understood as healthy, but how does immersion in pollution and industrialisation impact this relationship.

Language: English | 6.07mins | UK

The Water Holds Me / The Water Binds Us (2021)

Representing research by Charlotte Bates and Kate Moles, watercolour animations by Lily Mae Kroese and field recordings of human and non-human voices bring the story of wild swimming in the UK to life. Soft and gentle, this film reflects the quiet of being in water, and sharing that experience with the people and animals we come across.

Language: English | 2.19min | UK

The Surf Magazines Don’t Talk About Lapsed Catholics (2008)

Directed by Todd Stewart with footage captured by cinematographer Antonio Sanchez, Lapsed Catholics is a short memoirumentary about the rigors of what is perhaps the silent surfing majority. Claiming to be a surfer is a big part of so many of our lives, but a busy life in the city means you visit the ocean less and less often, at what point do we concede we are we lying to ourselves about who we have become?

Language: French| 5.31min | USA

Gardening Marine Forests (2023)

Join two marine scientists as they explore how a hands-on approach to marine restoration is working to revive marine kelp forests in South Korea. During their trip, they witness how a deep connection with the ocean is inspiring change. In Korea, this connection runs across society, from a hundreds of years-old guild of female free divers to the Korea Fisheries Agency using the latest techniques to manage their kelp forests. Directed by Stefan Andrews and the Great Southern Reef team, this breath-taking documentary showcases the work being done in Korea to restore the kelp forests that have been decimated by urchin barrens and environmental pollution. 

Language: Korean and English| 19min | AU