As a late celebration of World Oceans Day (8 June), Rebecca Olive (HASH) and Fiona Hillary (CAST), co-hosted an ocean film night at The Capitol; Everyday Oceans: Surfing, Swimming and Gardening.
Reflecting the interests of HASH’s ‘Human-Environmental Health & Wellbeing’ theme, this event explored various ways that our everyday interactions with coasts and oceans lead us both to understand them better and to take better care of them. Even as we feel better for participation in activities such as swimming, surfing, fishing and engaging in seaweed restoration, these activities can draw us to feel a deeper intimacy with places. By being in the water, we become all the water is and feel the implications of damage and degradation in our own bodies.
These films deeply explore with the interconnections of human-ocean health and wellbeing, and the different physical, mental, social, and cultural benefits coastal activities have for us, as well as how they can lead to better care for ecologies in return.
If you’re interested in learning more about these ideas, find the program and available links below.
Sea Country (2022)
Sea Country is a Great Southern Reef Film directed by Stefan Andrews and co-produced by Scott Bennett. Featuring the stories of Dean Vicki, Rob and Maddie Anders who have a deep connection to the coast and ocean. Their cultural practices connect them to the past, enrich the present and inspire their futures. This is their connection to sea country.
Language: English | 15.17mins | AU
A Lunar Cycle (2018)
Directed by Andrew Kaineder, and written by and starring surfer, Easkey Britton, this film explores the importance of cycles – of bodies, seasons, tides, and the moon – on how we connect to ourselves and to the places we live. Take an emotive journey through the places in-between, where instability reigns supreme. Embracing the imperfections as we connect with ourselves and the environment around us.
Language: English | 5.15mins | IRE
Polluted Leisure (2019)
An award-winning film by Clifton Evers and James Davoll, based on research with men who surf in the cold waters of North-East England. Polluted Leisure explores the less romantic experiences of a life lived for surfing in the ocean. Surfing is understood as healthy, but how does immersion in pollution and industrialisation impact this relationship.
Language: English | 6.07mins | UK
The Water Holds Me / The Water Binds Us (2021)
Representing research by Charlotte Bates and Kate Moles, watercolour animations by Lily Mae Kroese and field recordings of human and non-human voices bring the story of wild swimming in the UK to life. Soft and gentle, this film reflects the quiet of being in water, and sharing that experience with the people and animals we come across.
Language: English | 2.19min | UK
The Surf Magazines Don’t Talk About Lapsed Catholics (2008)
Directed by Todd Stewart with footage captured by cinematographer Antonio Sanchez, Lapsed Catholics is a short memoirumentary about the rigors of what is perhaps the silent surfing majority. Claiming to be a surfer is a big part of so many of our lives, but a busy life in the city means you visit the ocean less and less often, at what point do we concede we are we lying to ourselves about who we have become?
Language: French| 5.31min | USA
Gardening Marine Forests (2023) (Not yet available online)
Join two marine scientists as they explore how a hands-on approach to marine restoration is working to revive marine kelp forests in South Korea. During their trip, they witness how a deep connection with the ocean is inspiring change. In Korea, this connection runs across society, from a hundreds of years-old guild of female free divers to the Korea Fisheries Agency using the latest techniques to manage their kelp forests. Directed by Stefan Andrews and the Great Southern Reef team, this breath-taking documentary showcases the work being done in Korea to restore the kelp forests that have been decimated by urchin barrens and environmental pollution.
Language: Korean and English| 19min | AU
