Everyday Activist - The Sea & Me (MLJFF 2015)

Posted on Saturday, November 07, 2015 at 07:00 PM

The Sea & Me

Movie Review by Everyday Activist X CalgaryMovies.com

The Sea & Me, with its hopeful and positive message, is the perfect way to start off a festival that consists of gloomy topics. In Australia, with its beautiful warm, waters, underwater national parks have been set up to help address the issue of declining fish stocks, encourage tourism and to educate fisherman; who don’t always understand the need for protection of the fish stocks. I enjoyed the filmmakers attempt to include all parties, conservationists as well as fisherman into the discussion. Closer to home in Mexico, specifically the island of Cozumel has beautiful underwater national parks that invoke stiff penalties for park violations, such as intentionally breaking coral reefs. The parks demonstrate that the environment will recover if humans can leave nature alone.

Environmental issues around fishing have serious consequences, which you know of if you’ve watched Rob Stewart’s films Sharkwater and Revolution. Heck even Jiro Dreams of Sushi comments on the state of oceans, as he can no longer serve certain types of fish because they are no longer available. Recently, on October 25th and 26th, oceanographer Sylvia Earle was in Calgary talking about the state of the oceans. Her take is more like Rob Stewart’s and less like The Sea & Me. When you can see the dramatic changes to the oceans over your fifty year career, you can’t help but wonder about the next fifty. Her 2009 TED talk is here. 

If you are new to the social justice scene, the Marda Loop Justice Film Festival is a great way to connect with other likeminded people. In their main venue at River Park Church, they have a Global Village set up where you can interact with local and international groups. Remember reading about my trip to Peru? Light Up the World had a booth at the festival. CPAWs, Ujama Grandmas and Ten Thousand Villages have a presence every year. Also, speakers come to talk about the issues brought up in the film, creating a local contact for individuals who would like to investigate more. Unfortunately, due to time restrictions, the speakers won’t be available for the lunch time screenings at the Globe Cinema.

The Sea & Me has a running time of 27 minutes and will be screened at lunch time, @ 12:10 PM on Thursday, November 19th, 2015 at the Globe Cinema downtown as part of the Marda Loop Justice Film Festival 2015. The screening is free and you are allowed to eat lunch in theatre, but bring cash for the concession if you want some popcorn.

Calgary Showtimes: The Sea & Me >