Oceans Film Fest

If you’re still buzzing about oceans as Dalhousie Oceans Week winds to a close, the International Oceans Institute is offering more opportunities in the next month to learn more about our relationship with the sea.

The institute, whose Canadian centre is hosted at Dalhousie, is not only hosting this evening’s “Arts and the Sea: A Celebration”; it’s organizing its second annual Oceans Film Festival this month, featuring a series of documentaries that shed light on what’s happening beneath the waves.

“It’s designed to educate, but also to inspire actual about the issues our oceans face today” says Becca Jamer, an IDS masters student and intern with IOI, who is managing the festival.

Designed to be family-friendly, the festival’s first two screenings on June 15 and June 22—both at the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History—feature Disney’s Oceans and Rob Stewart’s Sharkwater respectively. The former will also feature Hilary Moors’ short film Life at Sea: An Inside Look at Life as a Local Marine Scientist.

“It’s great to see people’s reactions, but also answer their questions and get them excited about the research we do here in Nova Scotia,” says the Dalhousie PhD student, whose film was featured on Dal News in the fall and who will also be giving a short talk with the film. (See: "Understanding a vulnerable species.")

“It’s a chance to share more background on the Gully Marine Protected Area and bottlenose whales, the scientific background on why the Gully is so important and why it’s worth protecting.”

The film series continues with A Coastal Partnership: Maritime Stories of Integrated Management by local filmmaker Sarah Brook on Sunday, June 26 at Saint Mary’s Scotiabank Theatre (Sobey Building). It concludes the following evening with a series of short films about communities and natural resources, in the McNally Theatre at SMU.

For more information, visit the International Oceans Institute website