For Immediate Release
Pacific Whale
Foundation’s Annual World Whale Film Festival
Lights Up
Summer Screens
MA‘ALAEA,
Hawai‘i (May 20, 2022) – Pacific Whale Foundation (PWF), a global marine
conservation nonprofit, is excited to announce the programming for its 6th
Annual World Whale Film Festival (WWFF). With funding provided by Hawai‘i
Tourism Authority through the Community Enrichment Fund, this hybrid event
kicks off on World Ocean Day, June 8, at Ocean Vodka Organic Farm and
Distillery in Upcountry Maui. The evening includes dinner, drinks 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 major threats impacting
nature and humankind.
General in-person event tickets
cost $135 while VIP tickets cost $225. Both options feature food, beverages and
full access to online screenings with additional perks included in the VIP
package, such as a coveted Pacific Whale Foundation (PWF) swag bag, raffle
opportunities and more. Access to WWFF’s online component, costing $20, begins
June 8 and runs through June 30.
Conceptualized six years ago by
late PWF Founder Greg Kaufman and his wife, PWF
Documentary Filmmaker Selket Kaufman, WWFF
serves as a platform for emerging and seasoned filmmakers that aligns with the
organization’s mission to protect the ocean through science and advocacy and
inspire environmental stewardship. By invoking the power of storytelling, PWF
promotes awareness of environmental stories from around the world, inspiring
action for a better, bluer future.
“Our goal from the beginning was
to inform and inspire the people of Maui,” explains Selket Kaufman, noting that
the pandemic sparked the introduction of an online component providing an even
greater opportunity for global awareness. “The festival blossomed as our
definition of community expanded to include a global audience that support our
mission.”
Prominent among the stellar
films presented at this year’s festival is the premiere of the nonprofit
organization’s most recent documentary, Ocean
Guardians. Created by PWF Documentary Filmmaker Kaufman, this film is the first in a series designed to tell the full story of
PWF while examining major threats to marine life. It chronicles the journey of
humpback whales as they migrate between Alaska and Hawai‘i and PWF’s efforts to
save them from extinction.
“Ocean Guardians is a
story about migration, perseverance, connectiveness and cooperation,” she
explains. “We’re looking forward to sharing it at this year’s festival along
with other impactful films that embody PWF’s belief in the power of
storytelling to evoke change.”
Additional films spotlighted
during the festival include Entangled, by David Abel, a Pulitzer
Prize-winning reporter that addresses ongoing efforts to protect the North
American right whale from extinction and the struggle to balance the interests
of conservation groups and lobster-industry lobbyists; This Mortal Plastik, an
experimental documentary by award-winning media artist and filmmaker Jess Irish
which is playfully crafted with hand-drawn
illustrations and poetic interludes, crosses the world’s oceans in an attempt
to understand the contemporary landscape of single-use synthetics; and
the documentary short Healing Land, Healing People, shot entirely on
Maui and Moloka‘i by Leah Warshawski and Todd Soliday at the height of the pandemic, which
examines the values of kuleana (responsibility), malama (care for) and ‘aina
(land) embraced by local residents as they engaged in nature-based restoration
projects.
For more
information on the World Whale Film Festival or to purchase tickets to
either the in-person or online event, please visit www.pacificwhale.org/filmfest.
About Pacific Whale Foundation
With a mission to protect the ocean through science
and advocacy and to inspire environmental stewardship, Pacific Whale Foundation
(PWF) conducts Research, Education and Conservation programs. Founded in 1980
as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to saving the world’s whales from
extinction, PWF now solely owns social enterprise PacWhale Eco-Adventures,
which offers fee-based programs and services to help support the nonprofit.
Combined with memberships, donations, charitable grants and a remarkable group
of dedicated volunteers, PWF now reaches more than 400,000 individuals each
year through its Maui and Australia offices and research projects in Ecuador
and Chile.
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