Ocean Film Festival Magazine

Tour Magazine

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welcome

Thankyou for taking the plunge and supporting

the Ocean Film Festival World Tour

All aboard for a night of wild ocean

adventure! Thank you for joining us for

the seventh edition of the UK & Ireland Ocean

Film Festival and our first ever virtual shows.

While we can’t share these spellbinding films

with you in person, we’re delighted to deliver

two brand-new collections of inspirational

films direct to your home.

Our 2020 Ocean Film Festival show

includes everything from majestic polar bears

in Canada, to a 3,800-mile rowing epic across

the North Atlantic, plus the heart-warming

story of how surfer Trevor Gordon restores

a dilapidated boat to make his dream wavechasing

vessel. And for the ‘Best of’ Ocean

Film Festival we have chosen our favourite

films from the last five years of the tour –

there were some tough decisions! Expect

captivating cinematography from both above

and below the surface, with mind-boggling

marine-life and incredible human-powered

adventure – and we guarantee you’ll love

Surfer Dan, who truly makes the most of what

he’s got in his backyard.

The Ocean Film Festival originated in

Australia, with the aim of inspiring people

to explore, enjoy and protect the world’s

oceans. The UK & Ireland festival works to

promote the fantastic charities the Marine

Conservation Society and Surfers Against

Sewage. We’d also like to thank our fabulous

partners for supporting the tour, and our

indefatigable Ocean Crew – a team of

volunteers who help us promote the tour, and

have been exceptional at turning their skills to

online events too. And most importantly we’d

like to thank you, the audience, for making

the festival so special – it is your stories of

how the films have inspired you that keep us

coming back for more.

Thank you for tuning in and happy

adventuring. We hope you’re staying safe

and managing to spend time in or around the

ocean, and we can’t wait to see you at a live

event soon.

The Ocean Film Festival team

Cover photo © Rinaldi Santi

The Search for ProfiTS

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We are delighted to support the Ocean Film Festival World

Tour 2018. 2020. If you’d like to know more about how our

investment professionals could track down Profits for you,

please contact your financial adviser, call 0800 092 2051 or

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The value of investments may go down as well as up and you may not get back the amount you originally invested. Issued by Artemis

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WELCOME

‘BEST OF’ FILM LINE-UP

2020 FILM LINE-UP

KAYAKING THE ALEUTIANS

A CORNER OF THE EARTH

SURFER DAN

OCEAN VALOUR

STREET SURFERS

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‘best of’ fil

KAYAKING THE ALEUTIANS

British explorers Justine Curgenven and Sarah Outen

set out to paddle the Aleutian chain of islands in Alaska.

Alone for 101 days and at the mercy of one of the

windiest, roughest places on earth, the duo are swept

away from land by unknown currents, pounded by rough

seas and approached by bears. On this epic journey, they

gain a rare insight into themselves, the rich wildlife and

this rugged yet beautiful scenery.

THE ACCORD

Filmmaker: Justine Curgenven, 36 minutes

The Icelandic landscape is breath-taking but also harsh

and unforgiving for the tiny surfing community that inhabits

the island. Join Heiðar Logi Elíasson, Iceland’s first and

only professional surfer, on his journey through Iceland’s

magnificent terrain, depicting the turbulent relationship

between an Icelandic surfer and the North Atlantic wind.

Filmmaker: Elli Thor Magnusson, 18 minutes

OCEANMINDED

Oceanminded follows champion freediver Hanli Prinsloo

along the coasts of South Africa and Mozambique, where

she embarks on an amazing underwater journey into

the realm of blacktip reef sharks, blue sharks and mako

sharks. These often-feared creatures are portrayed in a

different light and this is an adventure full of passion and

risks – on just one breath.

Filmmaker: Emil Sergel, 24 minutes

8 UK & IRELAND OCEAN FILM FESTIVAL TOUR

m programme

STAY WITH US

The search for extra-terrestrial life has always fascinated

humans, as we look to the darkness above and imagine what

sort of alien beings share our universe. Stay With Us suggests

that maybe we’ve been looking in the wrong place – and

introduces creatures far stranger than those we can dream up

in science fiction…

Filmmaker: OceanShutter, 5 minutes

SURFER DAN

Sun, sea and sand typically come to mind when you think

about surfing, but this is not your typical surf film. Landlocked

ocean-lover Dan Schetter lives on the shores of Lake Superior

in Michigan where, in winter, strong winds across the water

create deadly currents, icebergs and… waves. Someone who

truly makes the most of what he’s got in his backyard, this is

Dan’s story.

Filmmaker: Tim Kemple, Camp4Collective, 8 minutes

TOUCHED BY THE OCEAN

Latvian friends Karlis and Gints have no rowing experience,

a second-hand rowing boat and a grand plan: to become

the first team ever to row across the South Atlantic Ocean,

from Namibia to Brazil. Touched by the Ocean joins them

on a raucous 6,000km journey of adventure, dedication and

friendship – pain and laughter in equal doses guaranteed.

Filmmakers: Laura Rožkalne-Ozola & Sandijs Semjonovs,

8 minutes

UK & IRELAND OCEAN FILM FESTIVAL TOUR

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2020 film

A CORNER OF THE EARTH

Struggling with the harsh realities of competitive surfing,

pro surfer Fraser Dovell goes in search of wild waves in

the breathtakingly beautiful and treacherously remote

Arctic. With extreme elements, the magnificent northern

lights and plenty of close calls, this is a stunning cinematic

celebration of a brutal northern winter, and Fraser reaches

a new appreciation of what it means to be a surfer.

Filmmaker: Spencer Frost, 25 minutes

BARE EXISTENCE

Polar Bears International (PBI) is a team of scientists

dedicated to protecting polar bears and their habitat.

In Bare Existence, a documentary film crew spends

seven days with the PBI team as they research and live

alongside these magnificent yet endangered creatures,

known as the Kings of the Arctic.

Filmmaker: Max Lowe, 19 minutes

CAMEL FINDS WATER

Sometimes the biggest dreams have the humblest origins.

When surfer Trevor Gordon discovers the remains of a

tiny dilapidated boat in a landlocked field, he dreams of

restoring her to her original glory and sailing her to find

remote waves in British Columbia. But after 1,000 hours

of work, will Camel be up to the challenge?

Filmmaker: Ian Durkin, 9 minutes


programme

OCEAN VALOUR

Lifelong friends Tom Rainey and Lawrence Walters set out

from Manhatten, New York, to row 4,000 miles across the

North Atlantic to Salcombe in Devon. Battling 80ft waves,

brutal sleep deprivation, jellyfish, sharks and some unpleasant

fungus, the young Brits spend 93 days at sea, breaking four

world records, and raising over £130,000 for the Brain Tumour

Charity in memory of Tom’s dad. A thrilling journey across the

vicious taskmaster that is the North Atlantic.

STREET SURFERS

Filmmaker: Aspect Media, 19 minutes

Not all surfers have access to the sea. In landlocked

Johannesburg, Thabo Mouti and Mokete Mokete swoop the

streets to collect plastic and paper for recycling. Big wave

surfer and ocean activist Frank Solomon joins them to find

about more about their gruelling and dangerous work, in a tale

of new friendships, shared experiences and common interests

between people who are worlds apart.

Filmmaker: Arthur Neumeier, 9 minutes

TIDAL

While recovering from a horrific BASE-jumping accident, Lisa

Beasley rediscovers her childhood love of diving and the

ocean, using Cape Town’s tidal pools to heal both mentally

and physically. But when these unique spaces become under

threat, Lisa embarks on a journey to protect the marine life that

is flourishing there.

Filmmaker: Trygve Heide, 24 minutes


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kayaking the

aleutians

Aleutian Islands, Alaska, 36 mins

Filmmaker: Justine Curgenven

Focus: Sea-kayaking

A TREACHEROUS SEA-KAYAKING VOYAGE THROUGH SOME OF T


HE ROUGHEST WATERS ON THE PLANET

No-one has succeeded in kayaking the length

of the remote and stormy Aleutian Islands

that stretch from Russia to Alaska.

Labelled as one of the greatest unconquered

technical sea kayak expeditions in the world,

British explorers Justine Curgenven and Sarah

Outen set out to paddle 2,500km along the

archipelago to the nearest road. Along the

way they are confronted by more than 20 long

crossings that separate the tiny unpopulated

islands. Sarah faces an even more formidable

challenge as this is part of her round-the-world

human powered journey and she has limited

kayaking experience.

Alone for 101 days in one of the windiest,

roughest places on earth, the two women are

swept away from land by unknown currents,

pounded by rough seas and approached by

bears. Experience an edge of-your-seat journey

as they gain a rare insight into themselves, the

rich wildlife and the lives of the few people who

live in this harsh yet beautiful landscape.


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a corner of

the earth

Images © Guy Williment

Australia, 25 mins

Filmmaker: Spencer Frost, Frost Films

Focus: Surfing

THREE INTREPID AUSSIES VENTURE TO

THE ARCTIC CIRCLE TO SURF REMOTE

WAVES IN THE WILDEST CONDITIONS

“

I feel like it’s most kids’ dream, who grow up

surfing, to do it for a living. It’s definitely what I

wanted to do,” says Australian pro surfer Fraser

Dovell. “But then you start doing the Qualifying

Series, and all these contests, training really

hard every day, and it’s so draining. It was

complete pressure all the time.”

At just 15 Fraser was under-18 Australian

Junior Champion, and soon progressed to

making the sport his career, but in his early

20s the realities of competitive surfing kicked

in. Feeling that his passion was in danger of

becoming something he hated, Fraser quit the

competition circuit and went in search of the

true meaning of what it means to be a surfer –

recruiting fellow Australians film-maker Spencer

Frost and photographer Guy Willimet for the

adventure of a lifetime in the Arctic Circle. >>


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a corner of

the earth CONT...

Far out of their comfort zones in Icelandic winter,

the intrepid trio faced viciously cold temperatures,

just five hours of daylight a day, unexpected

challenges such as 100kph winds snapping

their roof rack, and the dubious excitement of

navigating a hire car through a blizzard.

But despite the hardships, in this cinematic love

letter to the Arctic under the northern lights, they

experience wild beauty, overwhelming solitude

and Fraser reaches a new appreciation of what it

means to be a surfer.

“You’re constantly battling wind, tide, waves,

weather,” he says. “So much needs to go right,

and so much goes wrong a lot of the time, that

when it does go right, and you’re sitting out there,

snow-capped mountains almost in panoramic

view, it’s incredible. It’s something I’ll never

forget.”


surfer dan

USA, 8 mins

Filmmaker: Tim Kemple

Focus: Inland surfing

A SURF FILM WITH A DIFFERENCE…


Surfing films generally involve sun, sea and

sand, but this is no regular surf film, and Dan

Schetter is not your typical surf dude. Dan surfs

inland on Lake Superior in Michigan where, in

winter, strong winds blow across the cold water

creating deadly currents, icebergs and… waves.

“It’s dangerous,” Dan says. “It’s not like some

ocean clean perfect wave you just stand up and

come out of. There are ice chunks falling on my

head and water going up in my hoodie. It freezes

my brain.”

Known for being the crazy guy with a beard full

of icicles, Dan’s story has a serious side: he says

surfing helped him stop drinking and ultimately

saved his life. He’s also an inspiration for landlocked

ocean lovers around the globe, and his

passion for celebrating what he can find in his

backyard is particularly motivational in lockdown.

“Maybe this is all just novelty, but I’m having

the best time of my life so I’m going to keep

going for it,” he finishes.

SUPERIOR STATS

With a surface area of 37,000 square

miles, Lake Superior is more than four

times the size of Wales

The ginormous lake rarely completely

freezes over, but it reaches 90% frozen

every few years

Dan surfs Lake Superior in Michigan;

the lake is also bordered by Minnesota,

Wisconsin and the Canadian province of

Ontario

Love Dan? Follow him on Instagram –

@UPSurferDan

Surfing soundtrack: The soundtrack to

Surfer Dan is ‘Shelter Song’ by the psychedelic

rock band Temples – they are from Kettering in

Northamptonshire


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Plastic is choking our oceans...

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Join today and receive your free cotton

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plastic’ guide and quarterly magazine.

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Registered Charity No (Scotland): SC037480

www.mcsuk.org/join

ocean valour

FROM NEW YORK TO DEVON: 3,800 MILES, 94 DAYS, TWO ROWERS & ONE INCREDIBLE CHALLENGE

“

I remember waking up one day and thinking,

I’m going to do something to remember Dad. I

needed to do something that would destroy myself.”

When Tom Rainer unexpectedly lost his dad

Luke to a brain tumour, he set himself an almighty

challenge: to row across the North Atlantic Ocean,

from New York to Salcombe in Devon, where his dad

was born. Recruiting a university friend, Lawrence

Walters, the pair set off from beneath the One World

Trade Centre, on an expedition that became even

more eventful than they had imagined.

“The first week was like a summer holiday –

sunny and calm, we saw lots of wildlife and sort of

acclimatised to the whole thing. And that’s when it

went to the real big storms,” Tom says.

Over the 94-day rowing journey the pair, who were

both just 23, battled a hurricane, which caused their

tiny boat to capsize, and various storms. They got

stuck for 10 days in a 200-mile eddy, ran seriously

low on food, and faced fungal infections and severe

cramps from the seawater and the effort of rowing.

But despite the hardships, the duo stayed more

than positive. >>

UK, 19 mins

Filmmaker: Aspect Media

Focus: Ocean rowing

Images: © Ocean Valour


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ocean valour CONT...

“There was never a day we didn’t laugh – there

was probably never an hour we didn’t laugh,” says

Lawrence. “You’ve got no worries out there – no

reception, no Facebook, no pesterings – just you

and your mate with whisky and rum, doing exercise

all day, looking at whales. It’s the perfect life.”

And after three months at sea and covering 3,800

miles Tom and Lawrence arrived into Salcombe,

having broken four world records and raised

thousands of pounds for The Brain Tumour Charity.

“When I really wanted to do this I was so

obsessed, I dreamt of it every second of the day,”

says Tom. “As long as you have that drive, you

can pretty much do anything you want.”

The Ocean Valour expedition – by numbers

£130,000 raised for The Brain Tumour Charity

23ft size of the boat

3,800 miles travelled

112.5 nautical miles rowed in the longest day

93 days at sea

80ft height of the biggest waves faced

4 world records broken, including youngest

crew to row the Atlantic west to east, and

greatest distance rowed in 24 hours by ocean

rowing boat (112.5 nautical miles)

1 hurricane (plus 20 gales and 10 storms!)


BUFF ® is a registered trademark property of Original Buff, S.A. (Spain)

street surfers

South Africa, 9 mins

Filmmaker: Arthur Neumeier

Focus: Inland surfing

MEET THE RECYCLING HEROES MAKING WAVES OF A

DIFFERENT KIND IN SOUTH AFRICA


“

I find it incredible that people who are doing

something so good for the environment are

living in abject poverty,” says South African pro

surfer Frank Solomon.

In this powerful short film, Frank travels

hundreds of miles from his local waves in

Cape Town to meet Thabo Mouti and Mokete

Mokete, who make a living by recycling plastic

in landlocked Johannesburg. The pair, and their

fellow ‘street surfers,’ swoop the city’s streets on

homemade carts, collecting plastic to recycle as

a means of income. The work is dangerous and

living conditions dire.

“The guys took me back to where they live, and

I think very few people know that places like this

exist,” says Frank. “The camp of thousands of

people revolves around recycling our trash. It was

so bare – no electricity, or running water, or toilets.”

After spending time getting to know Thabo and

Mokete in their own environment, Frank takes

them to see the ocean for the very first time.

“When you see the ocean through the eyes


of someone who’s never seen it before, it’s

incredible – I had a lump in my throat,” he says.

And Frank’s interest in both the marine

environment, and the street surfers, goes far

beyond the film. He set up the Sentinel Ocean

Alliance, to teach basic ocean and environmental

skills to previously disadvantaged youth in

local communities, offering them opportunities

to improve circumstances for themselves and

their families. Starting out from a 20ft shipping

container, the organisation also educates young

people about sustainable practices such as

recycling, and the impact of pollution on the

environment. It organises regular beach cleans,

and during the pandemic has been delivering

food to those who need it.

And although the problem of plastic pollution

can seem overwhelming, Frank says even small

acts can make a big difference.

“There are billions of us living on this planet,

and if each one of us picked up a single piece

of plastic every day, we could be living in a

completely different world.”

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