SAVE THE DATE: October 15-16, 2022

Interested in supporting Green Planet Films Presents?
Please consider VOLUNTEERING or  DONATING to or SPONSORING this program

get tickets here

“Green Planet Films Presents”  is our film screening events initiative, where we invite existing environmental film festivals from around the world to showcase 12 hours of documentary films and subsequent discussions, which include award winners and topical documentaries curated to our region.

Because of our coastal location, we will once again present The International Ocean Film Festival, this year in partnership with Mystic Aquarium.

DATES:  October 15-16, 2022   10am to 6pm

LOCATION: Mystic Aquarium's Milne Center for Ocean Science and Conservation, Mystic CT

TICKETS: $15 for one film block, $40 day pass, $75 Festival Pass

Tickets will be available for purchase at the door.

Want to explore Mystic Aquarium too? Discounted Aquarium tickets will be for sale at the film event only (not at the main entrance to Aquarium)

Eventbrite Ticket link: https://bit.ly/IOFFMYSTIC

get tickets here


The goal of this program is to bring to our community an illuminating platform, such as documentary film screenings, to help us expand our understanding of the critical environmental challenges that face us globally and locally today, plus celebrating successes that mitigate these challenges. Sample topics for this particular event are kids/family ocean shorts, kelp forests and harvesting, coral reefs, New York waterways, sustainable shipping, ocean ecosystems, and student films. We aim to influence reasonable movement within people’s personal or business lives, or contact their government, to help implement changes that are important to them after seeing the films.  

SATURDAY 10AM -12 PM   >>>>> KIDS / FAMILY OCEAN SHORTS

My Journey Across the Ocean 4 mins

Back to the Sea 6 mins

Mangrove Forests: Roots of the Sea 4 mins

Starfish Gallop with Hundreds of Tubular Feet 5 mins

Hungry Jellyfish 4 mins

Lionfish: Ocean Murder Hedgehogs 2 mins

Fish with Superpowers - The Clownfish and the Shark 5 mins

The Origin - Life around the Hot Spring 4 mins

The Promise of Offshore Wind: 3 mins

The Wonder of Wave Gliders: 3 mins

Clean Water from Ocean Wave 3 mins

The Power of a River: 3 mins

Nā Kama Kai - Children of the Ocean 36 mins

DISCUSSION | Q&A

 

Saturday 1-3 pm >>>>> OCEAN ECOSYSTEMS >>>>>

Soul of the Ocean, Howard Wesley Hall (USA) 78 mins. Soul of the Ocean explores the complexity of ocean ecosystems. Spectacular underwater cinematography reveals communities of interdependent marine species and highlights the critical role biodiversity plays in maintaining a healthy ocean. Every species has a part to play. As humans become increasingly intimate with the ocean, we discover that we have a huge part to play as well.

Keepers of the Blue, Tomas Koeck (USA) 22 mins. A documentary examining several different oceanic environments as well as those that work to protect them.

DISCUSSION | Q&A

Saturday 4-6 pm >>>>> NEW YORK WATERWAYS >>>>>

Archipelago New York - An Island City, Thomas Halaczinsky (Germany) 53 min . Did you know there are whales a few miles outside the New York harbor, millions of oysters cleaning the water along the shore, and raptors living on high-rise buildings in Central Park? New York is an island city threatened by sea level rise. During the climate crisis, committed New Yorkers start to rethink their relationship with nature in this captivating documentary.

Windshipped. Sail Freight comes to the 21st Century. Jon Bowermaster (USA) 38 mins. Since Spring 2020, the 65-foot Schooner Apollonia has been sailing the Hudson River delivering goods from Hudson to New York City, with 15 ports-of-call along its route. All sans fossil fuels, it’s a very un-Amazon approach.

Living Dinosaurs. Andrea Kramar and Sarah Porter (USA) 6 mins. How horseshoe crabs have survived for eons in NY, NJ and why they’re vital to human health and safety.

DISCUSSION | Q&A


Sunday 10am-12pm >>>>> STUDENT FILMS >>>>>

Student films created for the IOFF and also from a student filmmaking workshop in Mystic CT called "My Favorite Fish Is ..."

Titles TBD

DISCUSSION | Q&A

Sunday 1-3 pm >>>>> KELP >>>>>

The Forest Stands Tall (2 mins) Abbey Dias (USA). From kelp forests in the ocean to forests on land, lifeforms evolved together as ecosystems – where function and diversity are more than the sum of the parts. As the world changes rapidly, we must learn from nature and reflect on the strength of this diversity. Stunning cinematography in this film explores how the ocean is intertwined with our lives, and why we must protect it.

The Blue Forest (35 mins) Philip Hamilton (UK). Kelp forests are one of the most vital ecosystems in the world, sequestering more carbon than equivalent areas on land. In Northern California, more than 97% of kelp has been lost due to climate change. In fact, seaweed and kelp forests around the globe are being threatened by human activity and the global race is on to protect them. Learning from scientists from around the world will help reverse this devastating trend.

The Ocean Solution (14 mins) Darcy Hennessey Turenne (USA) Farming under the sea? Meet Bren Smith, the ocean farming pioneer whose vertical kelp and shellfish farms are transforming the way food is produced. He discovered a new method of restorative ocean farming, producing large quantities of nutritious food while fighting the climate crisis, cleaning the ocean, creating aquatic habitat, and sustaining his organic sea-fairing way of life

Kelp: Hidden Treasure of the Salish Sea, Liz Smith, USA (26 mins) The kelp forests of the Puget Sound have long played an essential role in the local ecosystem as a habitat and food source. Today, this foundational species is in decline, but resource managers, scientists, tribal citizens, and advocates are working together to solve the mysteries of conserving and restoring kelp forests.

DISCUSSION | Q&A

Sunday 4-6 pm >>>>> CORAL REEFS >>>>>

INTO THE BLUE: The Wonders of The Coral Triangle, Robert Fonollosa (Spain) (50 mins) Located between the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, the Coral Triangle is often referred to as the global center of marine biodiversity. Home to hundreds of marine species, pristine coral reefs and some of the most colorful inhabitants of the ocean. Go deep into the blue around the Indonesian islands of Raja Ampat, Sulawesi, and Komodo and be mesmerized by stunning, up-close ocean beauty.

Reefs at Risk (11 mins)
Something else to worry about. The health of reefs near Hawaii started to decline around 1985, that was about the same time the tourist industry in the islands exploded. Any connection? All those visitors are lathered in sunscreen that often includes the chemical oxybenzone, an endocrine disruptor, lethal to coral—and fish, and dolphins (and maybe you). Who knew?
Coral: Glimmer of Hope, Gaelin Rosenwaks (USA) 9 min
Animal, plant or mineral? A coral reef is all these things, and the symbiotic relationship between the coral and the algae is critical for reef survival.  But as the impact of global warming continues to escalate, causing wide-scale bleaching, the future of the world’s coral reefs is uncertain. Scientists head to the West Pacific Island of Palau to study how temperature stresses coral, and how some species might contain the secret of adaptation and survival.
New Caledonia, Mother of the Coral Sea, Shawn Heinrich (USA) 14 mins. Features the incredible diversity of the Coral Sea in New Caledonia and how it provides for the people of New Caledonia — where nature and people are inextricably linked.

DISCUSSION | Q&A

 

About the International Ocean Film Festival (IOFF)
The largest ocean film festival on Earth, the IOFF inspires ocean activism through through independent film. Founded in 2004 in San Francisco, CA, the IOFF is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization whose mission is dedicated to restoring, protecting, and balancing ocean biodiversity - one film at a time.

Interested in supporting Green Planet Films Presents?
Please consider DONATING to or SPONSORING this program.


    THANK YOU SPONSORS!

    SILVER SPONSORS
    washington trust logodoninion energy
    ,br>
    BRONZE SPONSORS
    masons island marina charter oak credit union bankHFM logoverde birdie logo chelsea groton bank logo stonington fresh websiteOcean community chamber foundation

    STONINGTON ARPA GRANT FOR ARTS AND CULTURE
    Stonington ARPA grant for arts and culture