Ocean Film Festival

The most known film festival in Savannah is the big one in October every year, but Gray’s Reef Ocean Film Festival is gaining in popularity. And this year, the festival is more important than ever.
The Gray’s Reef 2010 Ocean Film Festival has selected 33 films and 10 student films to be screened.

Deep Water Horizon Oil Disaster
Several films focus on the Gulf Coast region, an area of special interest in light of the Deep Water Horizon oil disaster. Filmmaker Jon Bowermester will bring his latest documentary, “SoLa, Louisiana Water Stories’’ to the festival Saturday evening September 18. Bowermester re-cut parts of this look at ocean, culture, economics and survival along the Gulf Coast to provide an-up-to-the minute look at Deep Water Horizon disaster. Two local filmmakers and recent SCAD graduates, Landon Lott and Tim Arnold, bring their personal views of the disaster with their film “Skimming the Surface.’’

Other film highlights include two new ocean issue films from National Geographic and several winners from the 2010 International Wildlife Film Festival. The 2010 Gray’s Reef Ocean Film Festival Judges’ Best Pick film, “Students Saving the Ocean,’’ will be shown twice during the festival. In the film, young students show us all how to “live like we love the ocean.’’ Sunday evening is devoted to student environmental documentaries.

Festival film winners include: “Students Saving the Ocean,’’ Judges’ Best Pick and winner of the Call to Action Category; “Witness to Hiroshima,” winner of the Short Film Category; “Cold as Ice’’ and “What’s Down There,’’ joint winners of the Ocean Exploration & Discovery Category and “Wooden Bones” and “Lost on a Reef,’’ joint winners of the Maritime Heritage Category.

The Gray’s Reef Ocean Film Festival is a free festival with the mission to “To educate, inspire and enlighten coastal Georgia residents about the world’s oceans and the issues facing them. We use films to explore the beauty of the sea, the complexity of the marine ecosystem, the creatures that inhabit it, our maritime heritage and humankind’s relationship with the oceans and the environment in a positive, healthy, family-oriented format.”

Click here for the complete schedule

For more information visit the website http://graysreef.noaa.gov/