Climate change & ocean film DC premiere March 14: A Sea Change
Imagine a world without fish
03.01.2009 – World premiere of new film on the oceans and climate change at DC Environmental Film Festival
Brooklyn, NY-March 1, 2009-Imagine a world without fish. A new documentary on climate change and the oceans proposes just that. The film, A Sea Change, premiers at the DC Environmental Film Festival March 14. A Sea Change is the first documentary about ocean acidification, the underbelly of climate change, a little-known but potentially devastating threat to ocean life.
The screening takes place at 3:30 pm in Baird Auditorium, at the National Museum of Natural History, at the intersection of 10th Street and Constitution Ave., NW. Admission is free. Introducing the film is Dan Pingaro, Executive Director of Sailors for the Sea. Following the screening will be a panel discussion including director Barbara Ettinger, co-producer Sven Huseby, Dr. Richard Spinrad, Assistant Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Dr. Richard Feely of NOAA and the University of Washington, and David Rockefeller, Jr., Co-Founder of Sailors for the Sea. Moderating is Brad Warren of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership,
The Film’s Genesis & Story Line Sven Huseby, descendant of Norwegian fishmongers and life-long environmentalist, had never imagined the oceans were endangered by greenhouse gas until he read a New Yorker article on ocean acidification. That article, “The Darkening Sea” (Nov. 20, 2006, p. 66) changed his life. He discovered that the effects of climate change are not limited to global warming: they extend to the sea, where the chemistry of the water is being changed by excess carbon dioxide and creating a profound threat to the food chain, starting at the bottom.
The next step? Huseby and his partner and wife, the award-winning director Barbara Ettinger, decided to create a feature-length documentary about ocean acidification. The film was completed after two years of production, thousands of miles of travel, and hundreds of hours of editing. The odyssey begins with a meeting with Elizabeth Kolbert, author of the article which catalyzed the film, and ends with a series of meetings with charismatic entrepreneurs whose daring innovations may help turn the tide on changing ocean chemistry. The meat of the film is conversations with scientists whose research is in the forefront of the race to understand ocean acidification.
Sven’s travels are interwoven with a tapestry of wilderness on land and beneath the ocean’s surface, making visible what is so often invisible. Followed by the camera of cinematographer Claudia Raschke-Robinson (Mad Hot Ballroom, My Architect), Sven travels to fishing villages in Alaska, conferences and laboratories, and to ancestral sites from the Copper River Delta to the barren glacial beaches of Svalbard, Norway. Raschke-Robinson’s lens shifts between stately, panoramic shots of scenic beauty to intimate, handheld verité in human interactions.
Huseby is the means by which the audience encounters the problem of ocean acidification and begins to understand the issue and its possible solutions. Driving his voyage is his concern for his five-year-old grandson Elias and what environment legacy he will inherit. The film’s spine and comic relief are the charming, intimate conversations and games between Huseby and Elias.
Many Voices & Experts Weigh in The tone of the film is unavoidably dark at times. Asked if we are “screwed,” Dr. Edward Miles from the University of Washington says, “Yes, to a considerable extent.” Kolbert herself mourns that she is leaving her son a degraded world. Yet there is hope, and Huseby, the documentary’s protagonist, finds it where he can, among the scientists, entrepreneurs, and visionaries, and in his moments with Elias.
Interviewees include: Dr. Richard Feely, NOAA and University of Washington; Dr. Edward Miles, University of Washington; Dr. Jeff Short, NOAA Juneau, AK; Dr. Ricki Ott, Cordova, AK; Dr. Ken Caldeira, Carnegie Institute of Global Ecology, Stanford University; Dr. Richard Bellerby, Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Bergen, Norway; Dr. Victoria Fabry, California State College, San Marcos, CA; Dr. Jan-Gunnar Winther, Norwegian Polar Institute, Tromsoe, Norway; Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker writer on environmental matters; Miyoko Sakashita, environmental lawyer with the Center for Biological Diversity, San Francisco, CA; Deborah Williams, President, Alaska Conservation Solutions and former Special Assistant to the U.S. Secretary of the Interior; Andrew Beebe, President, Energy Innovations; Borea Schau-Larsen, hotelier and owner of Solstrand Hotel in Os, Norway; Maya Lin, artist and architect.
Support for A Sea Change
"A Sea Change is a magnificent synthesis of science and heart."
-Anne Alexander Rowley, Chair, Oceana''s Ocean Council
"A Sea Change could not be more timely. I believe acidification of our oceans is actually a greater threat to our survival than is temperature or sea level rise, the conventional "global warming" threats. Acidification is confusing and difficult to even imagine for most people-we need your film.”
- Rob Moir, Ph.D., Executive Director, Ocean River Institute
"[A Sea Change] follows ex-history teacher, activist and grandfather Sven Huseby as he travels to visit various scientists to learn more about the impacts of ocean acidification and tries to find ways to explain the problem to his 5-year-old grandson, Elias. I completely fell in love with Sven and the extraordinarily bright Elias. The people in the film are very real and approachable and the ocean footage is stunning. Optimistic, with a whole section of solutions at the end. Broad appeal for all ages."
-Dr. Cat Dorey, Sustainable Seafood Advisor, Greenpeace International
"A Sea Change is one of the most visually stunning documentaries we''ve come across this year, with so much awesome underwater footage, and that is by no means the peak of its accomplishments. Perhaps even more impressive, it manages to take a hard-to-sell topic and present it as both very interesting and very relevant. That''s not an easy task, and we applaud you for accomplishing it."
-Chris Boeckmann, True/False Film Festival
"Your wonderful film is still resonating deeply with me. I love the way you have created a journey of discovery that is so real and so current in its telling. The use of googling . . traveling . . visiting grandchildren . . . scientists . . . venture capitalists . . . and mentors is so compelling and makes the whole message so accessible! You show us how intimately everything is interconnected by the way you constructed this film. You take us on a journey of passionate inquiry that any of us could take . . and should. And then I am left with an urgent and clear understanding of just how delicate and gorgeous the ocean is and how important it is to do everything we can to protect it."
- Lyedie Geer, Leadership Consultant
Next Steps
The premiere of A Sea Change at the DC Environmental Film Festival marks the beginning of its festival screenings. The film is under consideration by a number of U.S. and international festivals. Niijii Films is also actively looking for outreach partners, non-governmental organizations interested in using the film to raise awareness around ocean acidification, climate change, marine conservation, and sustainability. Key partnerships are already in place with SeaWeb, which screened A Sea Change at its recent Seafood Summit to a standing-room only audience, and the Alaska Marine Conservation Council, which is using the film as part of its climate change initiative. Niijii Films’ own initiative is a series of international screenings of the documentary on June 6, the Saturday before World Ocean Day, to underscore the international nature of the problem of ocean acidification. Already scheduled are screenings in the Northwest and Northeast of the U.S., Iceland, Spain, and Australia.
The Crew of A Sea Change
Director Ettinger’s first film Martha and Ethel screened at the Sundance Film Festival and was distributed theatrically by Sony Pictures Classics. Her most recent film, Two Square Miles, was co-produced with Huseby through their company Niijii Films, and aired nationally on PBS''s Independent Lens in November 2006 and again in January 2007.
Award-winning cinematographer Claudia Raschke-Robinson is also shooting the film. She is known for her work as DP on the feature documentary Mad Hot Ballroom, directed by Marilyn Agrelo. She has filmed several documentary features nearing commercial release, including Shoot Down and Frame of Mind.
The film’s editor is Toby Shimin. Shimin has cut numerous films that have premiered at Sundance, including A Leap of Faith, Martha and Ethel, Everything’s Cool, and Out of the Past, which won an Audience Award. She has cut several projects for PBS, including AIDS Warriors for the 2003 season of Wide Angle and two projects for American Experience: Miss America, which premiered at Sundance in 2002; and Seabiscuit, for which she was nominated a 2003 Emmy.
Co-producing the project is Susan Cohn Rockefeller. She has directed, produced and written three documentaries. Green Fire: Lives of Commitment and Passion in a Fragile World and Richard Nelson''s Alaska have an environmental focus and were aired on PBS affiliates. Her third film, Running Madness, was also produced with an eye to the balance between man and nature: it won multiple awards, including the prestigious platinum Aurora award.
Niijii Films raised more than $650,000 to produce the documentary. Key to the fundraising efforts was Sailors for the Sea, the movie’s fiscal sponsor. SfS is a non-profit organization founded by David Rockefeller, Jr., that educates and empowers the boating community to protect and restore the oceans and coastal waters.
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- News Facts
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- A Sea Change is the first documentary about ocean acidification, the underbelly of climate change, a little-known but potentially devastating threat to ocean life.
- A Sea Change premiers at 3:30 pm, March 14, at the DC Environmental Film Festival.
- This is director Barbara Ettinger's third film. Her previous films are Martha and Ethel, and Two Square Miles.
- Sven Huseby not only co-produced the film, he also stars. His relationship with his five-year-old grandson Elias is at the heart of the film, as wrestles with the question of what legacy he's leaving for Elias.
- Nijii Films tried to minimize its carbon footprint in producing A Sea Change, and is conducing a full carbon audit.
- Resource Links
- Acid Oceans: Oceana report
- European Outlet for Info on Ocean Acidification
- PMEL Ocean Acidification Home Page
- RealClimate: Climate science
- Watts Up With That? award-winning science blog
- Wikipedia entry on Ocean Acidification
- A Sea Change FaceBook group
- A Sea Change Linked In Group
- A Sea Change on imdb
- A Sea Change website
- Alaska Marine Conservation Council
- Ann Hornaday reviews A Sea Change in Washington Post
- Cinematographer Claudia Raschke-Robinson's website
- DC Examiner reviews A Sea Change
- Matter Network reviews A Sea Change
- NBC DC Anchor Wendy Rieger Blogs on A Sea Change
- NiijiiFilms YouTube Channel
- NRK segment on A Sea Change
- Sailors for the Sea
- SeaWeb: Social marketing to advance ocean conservation
- Two Square Miles: a Niijii Films production
- WRCTV NBC4 "Going Green" segment on A Sea Change
- Tags
- ocean acidification, A Sea Change, Niijii Films, DC Environmental Film Festival, David Rockefeller, Richard Spinrad
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- Captions:
- 1) Caption Photo Two: Elias & Sven on the beach in California. Niijii Films.
2) Caption Photo One: Elias & Sven at the Monterey Aquarium, still from A Sea Change. Niijii Films.
3) Norwegian sea. Niijii Films.
4) Sven rows on the Norwegian sea. Niijii Films.
5) Caption Video One: A Sea Change, 1-min. trailer
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