Everyday Activist - The Archipelago (MLJFF 2016)

Posted on Wednesday, November 16, 2016 at 07:00 PM

The Archipelago (MLJFF 2016)

Movie Review by Everyday Activist X CalgaryMovies.com

I never really thought much about Sea Shepherd until this year. I watched a film at the Banff Mountain Film Festival this year called Sea Gypsies, where Sea Shepherd makes an impressive appearance with their fully staffed boat and able to donate gallons of fuel to another boat who helped them with the Japanese whalers near Antarctica. In the film, Angry Inuk, the filmmaker points out that certain environmental groups, like to protect non-endangered species because they are cute and raise lots of money for the various organizations including Sea Shepherd. We meet them again in the film The Archipelago.

The Archipelago in question is the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic Sea. People can still live off the land, though as with most cultures faced with modernization much of the traditional ways are dying. One of the traditions includes hunting pilot whales, which aren’t endangered; however, Sea Shepherd has launched a huge anti-whaling campaign against the people of the Faroe Islands. From what I understood from the documentary, people would still be allowed to hunt using “humane” tools. The fishery had put in a lot of effort into training people to use the more acceptable ways.

I felt the documentary was a bit slow and probably could have been half the length without anything critical missing. The filmmaker had some people comment that pilot whales weren’t endangered, but I would have liked to have seen him explain what Sea Shepherd was actually doing; fundraising versus real conservation. People need to be informed about the NGOs they choose to support and the “fishy” things they do to get donations – pun intended. Had I not watched Angry Inuk, I wouldn’t have known either.

The Archipelago will screen as part of the Marda Loop Justice Film Festival 2016 Saturday November 19th at 8:15 pm at Emmedia gallery & Production Society #203 351 11 Avenue SW. Get tickets at Eventbrite.

The guest speaker will be Paul Spong co-director of OrcaLab, a land based whale research station on Hanson Island in British Columbia (www.orcalab.org) and president of the non-profit Pacific Orca Society. He acquired a Ph.D. in physiological psychology from U.C.L.A. in 1966. Paul began studying dolphins and orcas in 1967, initially in captivity, than in the wild. His insights soon led to his involvement with Greenpeace in the save-the-whales movement during the 1970s, which culminated in the moratorium on commercial whaling agreed to by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 1982. For years his work has focused on the long-term life history of the 'northern resident community' of British Columbia orcas, the protection of orca habitat, and cetacean welfare issues such as commercial whaling and captivity.

Calgary Showtimes: Marda Loop Justice Film Festival 2016 > | The Archipelago >