7th Annual World Whale Film Festival kicks off June 8
Pacific Whale Foundation, a nonprofit organization with a mission to protect the ocean through science and advocacy and inspire environmental stewardship, invites cinema lovers to PWF’s 7th Annual World Whale Film Festival fundraiser. The festival kicks off June 8, 2023, in honor of World Ocean Day. It is open to all, either in-person or virtually.
The in-person screening will be held at OCEAN Organic Farm & Distillery, a PWF partner and WWFF venue sponsor. The event includes dinner, cocktails and a thoughtfully curated set of films that focus on stories about ocean and wildlife conservation, environmental stewardship, Indigenous ecological knowledge and other selections that raise awareness of threats impacting nature and humankind. Committed to PWF initiatives, Hui Zero returns as the festival’s zero-waste sponsor.
The online component will feature the films and be available for viewing through July 31, 2023, connecting a community of viewers, filmmakers and organizations that are committed to the defense of marine life.
Established in 2017, the annual World Whale Film Festival features high-caliber documentaries such as PWF’s A Voice for Whales and the Ocean Guardians series while supporting the nonprofit’s Research, Education and Conservation programs. This flagship event links an expanded global network of individuals and organizations engaged in impact action. It reflects PWF’s commitment to foster awareness of ongoing threats such as climate change, unsustainable tourism, marine plastic pollution, vessel collisions with marine animals and bycatch (fisheries interactions)—impacting the ocean and marine wildlife.
Among this year’s collection of films are:
- Manō by Brittany Biggs, which illustrates the human impact on sharks and coral reefs as seen through the eyes of a tiger shark in Hawaiian waters over hundreds of millions of years;
- Return to K’gari by PWF Documentary Filmmaker Selket Kaufman, an illuminating chronicle of the nonprofit’s ocean and marine mammal conservation efforts in Australia;
- Mālama i ke Kai (Take Care of the Ocean) by Genesis Stice, Mekia Kekona-Eaton and Bonshia Kajimwe (with Maui Huliau Foundation), a narrated short film in which these Huliau Environmental Filmmaking students speak on their personal relationships with the ocean, threats facing marine environments and why it is important to ‘mālama i ke kai’; and
- Sentirlos, created by Dr. Cristina Castro, Fernando Cornejo and Jorge Diaz of Pacific Whale Foundation Ecuador, a stirring film that raises awareness about unchecked human activity, such as bycatch and marine plastic pollution, endangering mainland Ecuador’s bottlenose dolphins. Aired on local television channels in Ecuador, this short film inspires people to act now and help save vulnerable dolphin populations.
General in-person event tickets are $135 and VIP tickets are priced at $250, and include food, beverages and full access to online screenings.
The VIP package features additional perks including an exclusive sunset cocktail cruise with filmmakers sponsored by PWF’s social enterprise, PacWhale Eco-Adventures, a coveted swag bag, and more. A second VIP package ($5,000) offers large groups and businesses the opportunity to support PWF’s mission as a WWFF sponsor complete with targeted media promotion, a dedicated group table, full-service food and beverages, an exclusive VIP cocktail cruise and more.
Access to WWFF’s online component, available June 8–31, is $25.
Tickets for the in-person event and additional information about the 7th Annual WWFF can be found here: www.pacificwhale.org/filmfest. For more information on the Pacific Whale Foundation, visit https://www.pacificwhale.org/.
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