Sharkwater - SB Ocean Film Fest

Friday night The Santa Barbara Ocean Film Festival kicked off it’s weekend of shows with the Central Coast premier showing of Sharkwater.

"Sharkwater, an internationally-acclaimed documentary film by Rob Stewart, is visually stunning. The film takes viewers into the most shark rich waters of the ocean, exposing the exploitation and corruption surrounding the world's shark populations in the marine reserves of Cocos Island, and the Galapagos Islands. To protect sharks, Stewart teams up with conservationist Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, and the two men risk their lives to show viewers that what is happening in the world’s oceans can no longer be ignored. Sharkwater has been compared to An Inconvenient Truth."

The festival and film were greeted with an introduction by Michael Hanrahan, founder of the SB Ocean Film Festival. Michael is the President, CEO and co-founder of The Ocean Channel, Inc. , a media company focused on the production and distribution of ocean content for television, web, and home video markets. Michael was proud to announce that the number of sponsors for this year’s event is double that of last year’s.

After a short introduction, Michael introduced Rob Stewart, the filmmaker. Stewart was found earlier answering questions under the marquee from some young reporters. There by his side was fellow conservationist, Bo Derek, who joined him as they walked the red carpet.

Bo Derek and Rob Stewart

One of the opening scenes of Stewart’s self-narrated documentary is still stuck in my mind: an underwater clip of the filmmaker gently holding and petting a shark significantly larger than himself, the shark calm, relaxed and enjoying the attention.

A Q&A followed the film.

sboceanfilmfestival.com