Climate Change & Ocean Film Screens Across the Globe on World Ocean Day: A Sea Change

3 continents join hands to raise awareness around ocean acidification

05.15.2009 – BROOKLYN, NY, and MADRID, SPAIN - The threat of ocean acidification is global. That''s why Niijii Films is joining forces with organizations across the world to screen its new documentary A Sea Change for World Ocean Day (WOD).

WOD screenings of A Sea Change are taking place in Australia, Europe, North America, and the Hawaiian Islands. Linking the international community will be a live webcast panel emanating from Beacon Institute’s new Center for Environmental Innovation and Education (CEIE) in Beacon, NY.

A Sea Change is the first documentary on ocean acidification, the underbelly of climate change. Imagine a world without fish: if ocean chemistry continues to change because of excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, a bottom-up collapse of the sea food chain could result. The film combines the intimate story of a Norwegian family whose life is bound up with the sea with an investigation into the science of ocean acidification. A Sea Change made its world premiere at the DC Environmental Film Festival in March, to a standing-room-only audience at the National Museum of Natural History. Additional screenings include the San Francisco and Seattle film festivals.

On Saturday, June 6, the live panel discussion with the filmmakers and other experts will take place at 3 pm EDT and stream live on the Internet. Internet viewers will be able to email and tweet their questions about the film and ocean acidification. The live webcast will be available at: http://mfile.akamai.com/35537/live/reflector:46515.asx?bkup=53670. Note that the link will not be live until 3 pm EDT on June 6. Tweets can be sent to aseachange. The email address is angela at aseachange.net.

Participating in the panel are the filmmakers of A Sea Change, Barbara Ettinger and Sven Huseby and Hudson River environmental visionary John Cronin, Director and CEO of Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries.

What People Are Saying about A Sea Change:
San Francisco Chronicle:
"This film is both a love letter to the planet and an urgent plea to its citizens." - Justin Berton, excerpt from review, 4/17/09

The Washington Post:
"The story that "A Sea Change" tells is urgent, unsettling and desperately in need of understanding and action." - Ann Hornaday, excerpt from review, 3/12/09

About the Panelists
Director Barbara 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 her husband Sven Huseby through their company Niijii Films, and aired nationally on PBS''s Independent Lens in November 2006 and again in January 2007. Huseby is a retired independent school head who worked as a teacher and administrator at The Putney School for 30 years.

John Cronin, Director and CEO of Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries, is known internationally as an environmental leader and visionary. The Wall Street Journal has called him as “a unique presence on America’s major waterways,” a distinction affirmed by the breadth of this 35-year career dedication to public service, the environment and the Hudson River. As an advocate, lobbyist, legislative and congressional aide, commercial fisherman, author and filmmaker, Cronin tackled a wide range of frontline issues, such as Clean Water Act enforcement, disposal practices at Love Canal, fisheries management, and the New York City Watershed Agreement. For his accomplishments, Time magazine named him a “Hero for the Planet.”

WORLD OCEAN DAY SCREENINGS OF A SEA CHANGE
Thursday, June 4
AUSTRALIA: Hobart, Tasmania: A Sea Change screens at 7 pm, The Philip Smith Centre, 2 Edward St, Glebe. Dr. Donna Roberts will be their special guest. She is an ocean acidification scientist specialising in the impact of CO2 on shelled ocean fauna - particularly pteropods.

Friday, June 5
USA: Olympia, WA: People for Puget Sound present SeaCinema!, a two-day festival of ocean films. A Sea Change screens at 6 pm, Capitol Theater.

Saturday, June 6
USA: Beacon, NY: Beacon Institute for Rivers & Estuaries. 1 pm, A Sea Change screens; 3 pm, live webcast panel with filmmakers Barbara Ettinger and Sven Huseby, and Beacon Institute CEO John Cronin. Free; advance registration required.

Puhi, Kauai, HI: Kauai Community College Performing Arts Center with Save Our Seas, 5:30 pm.

Wailuku, Maui, HI: with Maui Ocean Center and Coral World International

ICELAND: Reykjavík: with the Icelandic Environment Association

SPAIN: Madrid: Cosmo Caixa, Alcobendas. Two screenings. Visit the website for the schedule: obrasocial.lacaixa.es

Barcelona: Aquarium; Vilanova i la Geltrú, at the Escuela Politécnica Superior de Ingeniería de Vilanova, C/ Víctor Balaguer, s/n. 6:30 p.m. (18:30 h), Salán de Actos, organizers: Agrupaciá per a la Protecciá del Medi Ambient, Museu del Mar de Vilanova i la Geltrú, with the collaboration of: EPSEVG (Escola Politécnica Superior d’Enginyeria de Vilanova), LAB (Laboratori d’Aplicacions Bioacústiques), CRIA and the Town Hall of Vilanova i la Geltrú. Michel André of LAB will moderate the webcast panel discussion.

Valencia: Oceanográ fic

Palma de Mallorca: Aquarium

AUSTRALIA: Sydney: Australian Museum begins screening A Sea Change. Screenings run through the end of their climate change exhibit August 16.

Sunday, June 7
USA: Salem, MA: Salem Sound Coastwatch presents A Sea Change, followed by a discussion and reception, 10 am at Cinema Salem. Free. RSVP to 978-741-7900 or info@salemsound.org.

San Diego, CA: Sea Rocket Bistro presents A Sea Change, 7 pm.

Monday, June 8
USA: Washington, DC: Screening an excerpt of the film plus testimony by co-producer Sven Huseby to kick-off Capital Hill Oceans Week (CHOW)

Silver Spring, MD: Screening on the NOAA campus for staff

New York, NY: Screening for UN delegates

San Diego, CA: Sea Rocket Bistro presents A Sea Change, 7 pm.

SPAIN: Má¡laga, with IUCN Mediterranean and the Town Hall of Má¡laga, at the Center for Contemporary Art (CAC) in Má¡laga. The screening will take place at 11:00 a.m. and will include a panel discussion with Juan Jesús Martín from Aula del Mar and Rami Abu Salman from IUCN-Mediterranean, as well as local ocean science experts.

FRANCE: Biarritz, with Surfrider Foundation Europe

THE NETHERLANDS: Rotterdam: University of Delft screening 24-min. excerpt. The film will be shown at the Rotterdam Zoo, in conjunction with the World Ocean Day conference taking place there. For more information, www.mare-nostrum.nl.

Wednesday, June 10
USA: San Francisco, CA: Ocean Health sponsors World Oceans Day Film Festival, including A Sea Change. Victoria Theatre, 16th St. & Mission St. 7:00 pm. $10.

Friday, June 12
USA: Mancos, CO: Montezuma Climate Action Network sponsors A Sea Change at Cortez County Recreation Center, 7:15 pm. Free.

About World Oceans Day
The concept for World Oceans Day was proposed in 1992 by the Government of Canada at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and it had been unofficially celebrated every year since then. Official designation by the U.N. is a significant step in conserving and protecting our world''s ocean. As of 2009, "World Oceans Day" has been officially declared by the United Nations as June 8th each year. The ocean has been used as a dumping ground by humanity for years. The assault from pollution, global warming, and now ocean acidification is creating a perfect storm, heralding possible destruction of life as we know it in the sea.

Visit the Sea Change website to find contact information for participating organizations: www.aseachange.net.

For more information or to set up a screening of your own: North America/English-speaking countries angela at aseachange dot net, +1 718 407 0670; Europe/Latin America gwen at aseachange dot net, +34 670 01 69 91.

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Comments

ksw1301 says:: @ksw1301 posted to Twitter: A Sea Change screens across the planet for World Oceans Day June 5-12. Webcast panel June 6, 3 pm EDT http://pitch.pe/11747

sandra s power says:: This is a devastating docmentary. How does one obtain it for sharing privately? My grandchildren need to see this. All my friends who did not attend the viewing at the Cinema Salem in Salem, MA need to see this. (Yes, where were all the scientists out there who knew this was going on years ago?)

sandra s power says:: This is a devastating docmentary. How does one obtain it for sharing privately? My grandchildren need to see this. All my friends who did not attend the viewing at the Cinema Salem in Salem, MA need to see this. (Yes, where were all the scientists out there who knew this was going on years ago?)