Last weekend I went with my mother to the Ocean Film Festival 2023 screening in the Edinburgh Festival Theater. This and its sister film festival (Banff Mountain Film Festival) are my dream film festivals. Most film students or filmmakers want to make it to Cannes, Sundance or Venice. But I want to make it to one or both of these instead. My family has always been very outdoorsy and so this is the film festival we would always go to over the years and it has always inspired me both as a person in my own life and as a filmmaker. Not only are the subjects and their stories inspirational, but the films in themselves are beautiful, often of different callibers and styles, which is something that we all really enjoy when we go to see it.
I am very inspired by the ocean, by water and the space it creates for me mentally. I find I am calmer when I go into the water or even when I stand at its edge. But when I stand at the water’s edge i always get the urge to run in for a dip or a swim. This is why the Ocean Film Festival is perfect for me because it inpires my soul and passion for film. I’m very interested in doing portraits of people and l find following them on a journey is super exciting. Often times the films that are screened at this festival feature portraits like the ones I like to make about people on a journey be it literal or mental within the realm of the ocean.
This was not the only reason that I went this year. I went with just my mother as I am hoping to at some point submit the film we made last year “Bodies of Water” to that same festival, so I joked we were scouting out the competition, but it was mainly to enjoy other ocean films. I hope to see my mother up there one day as well, if not in Bodies of Water than on another project. I find her a very inspirational person and I think many other people would too. And as I said for me its the dream to have a film there.
We really enjoyed all of the films we saw. But my two favourite films this year were CIRCUMNAVIGATE and If You Give a Beach a Bottle.
CIRCUMNAVIGATE by Will Reddaway
CIRCUMNAVIGATE is a 1 and a half hour long film by Will Reddaway which follows Brendan Prince as he circumnavigates all around the British mainlaind. I found this the most inspiring story because of the feat of doing this in itself. A paddleboard is not designed for these kinds of distances and as I said before a journey for me is always something I really enjoy, especially in these water and sport celebrating films. What also needs to be mentioned is how Brendan used the project to raise funds and awareness for water safety in the UK. As an off duty life gaurd he witnessed several people dying on a beach once and it changed his life. He has made it his mission to make the ocean a safer place for everyone. Something I really appreciated was that his family understood that this was something that he had to do, so he was away from them for 4 and a half months and they did not hold him back from it.
I found the shots were very beautiful not only because of their pretty subjects (the ocean and Brendan too) but also because they showed all the different personalities of the sea. The ocean is one of my favourite places (as I mentioned before) and I feel it has such strong and distinct characteristics that can change from one to the other at any time. Having done Bodies of Water I know it is not always easy to capture these. I find the ocean is something to admire and respect, because it is wild and beautiful. I have to say the long running time of the film was not an issue for me at all, it felt longer than some of the other films of course, but it worked as a feature for me.
Sadly I was unable to get a link to the full film, but here is a link first to the trailer of the film and then below to The Long Paddle page which Brendan has created for his fundraising for ocean safety awareness:
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/circumnavigatesup
https://thelongpaddle.co.uk/
If You Give a Beach a Bottle by Max Romey
If You Give a Beach a Bottle by Max Romey stood out to me as it was completely different to the other films that were screened that night. It is much shorter and it is also an artwork in itself. I felt this film could be an installation. It is educational, playful and enjoyable. It was short but sweet and the edit was fun but concise. The film follows Max as he reads a poem and paints pictures as he empties litter off a beach. The film is inspirational and offers an artistic approach to tackling climate change and the global crisis. I can only recommend it.
Here are some of my favourite images from the film:
I was able to get a link to the film this time so here it is:
