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Ocean Fest Hangs Ten by Roger Rose
The sixth San Francisco Ocean Film Festival presents more than 35 documentary, fictional, and animated films. Screening at Fort Mason's Cowell Theatre on the water's edge, films from around the world will give festival-goers a whiff of sea salt. Ocean Film Fest entries feature content as varied as kayaking, surfing, sailing, oceanography, conservation, tales of the sea, open-ocean adventure, and shark docs.
SFOFF opens Thursday, February 19 and runs through Sunday, February 22. Each program is followed by in-depth discussions with filmmakers and marine experts, creating a unique public forum on ocean resources and their environmental, social, and cultural importance. Attracting more than 4,500 people from the length of the California coast and beyond, SFOFF screenings start after an opening-night party with sea spirits and savories at the Aquarium of the Bay at 7 pm, February 19. The Cowell Theater show includes films ranging from a minute to feature-length, and ends February 22.
With entries from over 30 countries, SFOFF explores various undersea environments. The best of the captivating entries will be celebrated in an award ceremony after the screenings on the final Sunday.
In Pearl Islands: The Story of Bahrain's Natural Gems, explorers from Bahrain dive amid the natural beauty of the Arabian Gulf looking for oysters - and the world's finest pearls that some of them contain.
McGuire had some close calls since sharks are sensitive to the electromagnetic energy emitted by cameras.
Tomorrow's Baja takes us to Baja Sur, Mexico, to describe a languid setting caught between a dazzling ocean environment and a land that its resources cannot support. We learn that the very thing that attracts the visitors - abundant unmatched ocean assets - also crucially threatens the diminishing supply of fresh water.
While we identify the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz as Bay Area icons, we know little about the enigmatic sharks living beneath the waves. City of the Shark, by local filmmaker and marine biologist David McGuire, helps us to re-discover the exotic denizens in our own back pond.
Like other undersea filmmakers, McGuire went to exceptional length to get delicate shots in the briny deep. He captured footage both in the Aquarium of the Bay and in the waters off Angel Island, shooting in HD using a Sony HVR-V1U with a Light & Motion Bluefin housing. Wide-angle was shot using a Panasonic HVX 2000 P2 with an Amphibico Phenom.
Although he maintains that he didn't feel very threatened, McGuire had some close calls because the sharks are very sensitive to the electromagnetic energy emitted by the camera. McGuire recalls: "I turn the camera on and the shark rushes right up to it, nosing the lens. He couldn't have gotten any closer to me - but he was just investigating. They feel the electromagnetic impulses of the gear, and seem to be thinking, 'What kind of fish is this?'"
We're looking forward to the SFOFF - it's a great place to see beautiful footage and catch up on the health of our oceans. And it's a great place for those unfamiliar with marine issues to get their feet wet! Posted on Feb 04, 2009 - 11:03 PM