Categorized | Entertainment, Featured

Waimea Ocean Film Festival (Jan. 3-11)

Hokulea: Passing the Torch (Photo courtesy of Waimea Ocean Film Festival)

Hokulea: Passing the Torch (Photo courtesy of Waimea Ocean Film Festival)

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The Waimea Ocean Film Festival (Ocean Film) offers a stellar lineup of films and special guests for 2013. The festival headlines several TEDx and TED global speakers; world, US and Hawaii premieres; plus a non-stop schedule of stunning and thought-provoking films, breakfast talks and special cultural exhibits and events.

The festival runs Jan. 3-11, starting at Waimea and Kohala Coast venues before moving to Four Seasons Resort Hualālai with the first showing at the resort the evening of Jan. 7.

Each year, the festival immerses participants in a greater understanding and awareness of the ocean and island culture.

The 2013 event opens Jan. 3 with a tribute to the late Jake Eberts, including a compilation of his work, and the showing of the latest film he produced, Hidden Beauty/Wings of Life, presented by director Louie Schwartzberg.

Producer Paula Dupre Pesmen and director Jeff Orlowski will be on hand during the festival to talk about the making of Chasing Ice, currently under consideration for a 2013 Academy Award nomination.

Jon Shenk joins the festival for a discussion of The Island President, along with some 30 other filmmakers and speakers, traveling from as far away as New Zealand, Norway and the UK.

Ocean Film welcomes M. Sanjayan as a guest speaker on ocean health. Sanjayan is a CBS correspondent on science and environment, a chief scientist for the Nature Conservancy, has appeared on NBC’s Today Show and David Letterman, was a TED Global 2010 speaker, has hosted documentaries for the Discovery Channel, BBC, and National Geographic TV, and is one of 20 senior advisors to the Clinton Global initiative.

Among the other outstanding festival speakers, Ocean Film presents Noah Idechong, founding executive director of the Palau Conservation Society and the elected speaker of the Palau National Congress, to elaborate on the Palau experience in reversing the deterioration of its reefs and depletion of its fisheries to become one of the world’s leading dive destinations.

Dr. Adam Pack, associate professor at UH-Hilo, will share his 18 years of studying the behavior and biology of humpback whales in their Hawaiian breeding and calving grounds.

Alan Cohen, inspirational author and featured speaker in the film Finding Joe, will speak about the work of Joseph Campbell and the Hero’s Journey, while Louie Schwartzberg, whose presentation on gratitude was the most popular TEDx talk of all time, will discuss gratitude at the festival, along with a showing of the film with the same name.

Go Pro joins Ocean Film in 2013 Creative Director Bradford Schmidt talks about the beginnings of GoPro, the evolution of the camera’s capabilities and design and what it’s like to work with the world’s most versatile camera. Go Pro athletes Jaime Sterling, Alana Blanchard and Monyca Byrne Wickey join the festival for a “Best of Go Pro” evening Jan. 3.

Other festival activities include an exhibit and presentation on the 2013 worldwide voyage of Hokulea, the artist works of Christian Enns and Becky Holman, a Barela Art Gallery reception, a cultural evening featuring a talk on wayfinding under the stars Jan. 9, the Taste of the Island culinary event Jan. 6, and a book signing with Kathy Kohner Zuckerman, the real “Gidget,” who will talk about the book written by her father that started it all, Gidget: The Little Girl with Big Ideas.

Participants can begin the day with sunrise yoga on the beach or outrigger canoe lessons, power up with coffee at the morning breakfast talks and then head out for a day of thought-provoking film and discussion.

Selections and film synopsis from the 2013 film line up include:

* Chasing Ice / USA (Jeff Orlowski* Paula DuPré Pesmen*)
* Duke Kahanamoku: Hawaii’s Soul / USA (Phil Arnone*)
* The Endless Winter / UK (Matt Crocker, James Dean)
* Finding Joe / USA (Pat Takaya Solomon) Alan Cohen* for Q&A
* Gauchos del Mar / Argentina (Joaquín Azulay & Julián Azulay)
* Going Vertical AUS (Poppy Walker)
* Gratitude / USA (Louis Schwartzberg*)
* Hidden Beauty/Wings of Life USA (Louis Schwartzberg*)
* The Island President / USA (Jon Shenk*)
* Jaws: Changing the Game / USA (Wangdu Hovey*)
* Naked Ambition / UK (Joe Wihl, Oliver Gray)
* Nona Beamer: A Legacy of Aloha / USA (Linda Kane*)
* North of the Sun / Norway (Inge Wegge*, Jørn Ranum)
* There Once was an Island: Te Henua e Nnoho / New Zealand (Briar March*)
* The Tsunami and The Cherry Blossom / USA (Lucy Walker)
* Under African Skies / USA (Joe Berlinger)
* Waking the Green Tiger / Canada (Gary Marcuse)
* The Water Tower (Pete McBride)
* 2012: The Beginning (Shannon Kring Buset*)

* Filmmakers attending Ocean Film and leading a discussion
Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, The Fairmont Orchid, Hawaii, The Mauna Kea Beach Hotel and Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel are offering discounted rates to attendees purchasing a festival pass.

The Waimea Ocean Film Festival thanks all 2013 Film Festival partners. Mahalo to Go Pro, San Disc Foundation, Four Seasons Resort Hualālai, The Fairmont Orchid, the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, Hapuna Prince Resort, West Hawaii Today, Big Island Weekly, Hawaii Preparatory Academy (HPA), Big Island Brewhaus, Redwater Cafe, Parker School, Merrimans, gaiacreative, Ke Ola Magazine, Joe Fagundes III (Kona Law), Maile Charters, Blue Wilderness Dive Adventures, and Starbucks Coffee.

TICKET INFORMATION – Waimea and Four Seasons film passes for the festival are on sale now. Passes may be purchased online or by calling the festival office at 854-6095.

— Find out more:
www.waimeaoceanfilm.org

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