Buck is directed by Cindy Meehl, here's a link to Sundance's announcement.
And a link to an article about the film.
Go Toby!!!
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Congrats Toby!!!
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Toby Shimin's last film, BUCK, has just been given the Sundance Audience Award for Best Documentary. Toby was the editor of A Sea Change and all of Barbara Ettinger's previous films. Congratulations, Toby!
Buck is directed by Cindy Meehl, here's a link to Sundance's announcement.
And a link to an article about the film.
Go Toby!!!
Buck is directed by Cindy Meehl, here's a link to Sundance's announcement.
And a link to an article about the film.
Go Toby!!!
We Need Your Help!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
We've just received word from Netflix that A Sea Change is officially a 'saved' film in their terminology. This means that they're waiting to see how many people put it in their queue before they decide if they'll carry it. With over 50 film festivals worldwide, a national broadcast on Planet Green and hundreds of community screenings we're curious what it takes to get accepted outright. But Netflix has a big audience and we want more people to see the film and learn about ocean acidification, so we see this as a challenge to our network of supporters...you. If you have a Netflix account or know someone who does, please take a minute to put us in your queue and to ask your friends to do the same thing. It's free, it's easy and it will make a difference. Here's our link
Speaking of documentary film festivals, Barbara and Sven just returned (briefly) home after attending the screening of their film at the Chesapeake Film Festival, while here at the virtual office we were informed that the film had been selected for the Festival du Film de L'environnement in Kairouan, Tunisia, in early December. How nice is that?
Speaking of documentary film festivals, Barbara and Sven just returned (briefly) home after attending the screening of their film at the Chesapeake Film Festival, while here at the virtual office we were informed that the film had been selected for the Festival du Film de L'environnement in Kairouan, Tunisia, in early December. How nice is that?
Teaching Moments
Monday, May 03, 2010
By Ben Kalina
It’s been two years now since we filmed A Sea Change along the northern California coast and the journey continues with screenings scheduled globally as we plan another celebration of World Ocean Day in early June. As if ocean acidification wasn't enough and we needed another reason to wean ourselves quickly from oil, this year’s Earth Day disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is a stark reminder.
As the gruesome news comes in from the Gulf Coast it’s clear that despite the efforts of many, the oceans continue to pay a horrific price for our dependence on oil and other carbon-based pollutants.
Just before the BP disaster I spent a week with my wife and our daughter in Northern California, visiting old friends and trolling along the coastline where we filmed A Sea Change. We saw the molting elephant seals at Ano Nuevo, the beach glass combers at Davenport, and the baby goats in Pescadero. I’ve been along that stretch of coastline many times before and it never disappoints. The weather always seems to be sunny and pleasant, and you can’t drive a mile without coming across some marvel of nature or a dramatic scene of cliffs diving into the ocean. The windy, elevated stretch of Route 1 near Pacifica will soon by bypassed by the Devil’s Slide tunnel, so you’ll have to get there soon to get that roller-coaster feeling in your stomach as your car slithers along the mountainside.
On one rainy, misty day we took the opportunity to head down for a visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which is featured on a couple of occasions in A Sea Change. Once you get over the sticker shock ($29.95 for those over 12…at least it’s going to a good cause) there may be no better indoor space on earth to bring a child, especially one who has just woken up from a nap, has eaten and is full of energy and curiosity. All the sea animals I remembered are still there: the sardine rotunda, the jellyfish tanks, the sea turtle habitat, the bat ray petting pool and the playful otters.
The newest exhibit at the aquarium features Sea Horses, some of the most bizarre and mysterious little creatures around. Some resemble the Preying Mantis, taking the color and shape of seaweed to blend into their surroundings. Other species look more like what I'd imagined; upright ponies gliding along, propelled by a row of tendrils along their spine. They are delicate and intricate, sublime in their evolution.
This was my first visit to the aquarium as a parent, and I soon realized that there were exhibits I’d never even seen before, the kind of exhibits are invisible until your child runs to them squealing with arms waving and eyes wide open.
These of course are the specially designed children’s play areas all around the aquarium, where kids press buttons that play clips of seal calls, dunk wooden fish in water and climb and bounce on all kinds of structures. But beyond the collection of fish tanks and the playgrounds what I was struck by the most at the aquarium was the extent of the exhibits that have been built to educate visitors about climate change, sustainability, and specifically about ocean acidification. I don’t know exactly when these dioramas and interactive displays were installed, but there seemed to be at least one in each exhibit. They ranged from a mock kitchen illustrating how food choices contribute to greenhouse gas emissions to diagrams of renewable energy options to a graphic description of the threat of ocean acidification. I suppose what I found most encouraging was that the aquarium could easily have taken the neutral position that their animal exhibits embody their educational efforts, and left it at that. Instead, they clearly went to great expense, and perhaps some institutional risk, to display a series of exhibits that could invite hate mail or worse in an era when skeptics threaten scientists with violence and reject common sense at every turn. As individuals, as governments, and as a global community, we all need to find the courage to take responsibility for the impact of our actions on this planet and to make change in our own spheres. The Monterey Bay Aquarium has given us one graceful example of how this might be accomplished.
-Ben Kalina, Associate Producer, A Sea Change
It’s been two years now since we filmed A Sea Change along the northern California coast and the journey continues with screenings scheduled globally as we plan another celebration of World Ocean Day in early June. As if ocean acidification wasn't enough and we needed another reason to wean ourselves quickly from oil, this year’s Earth Day disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is a stark reminder.
As the gruesome news comes in from the Gulf Coast it’s clear that despite the efforts of many, the oceans continue to pay a horrific price for our dependence on oil and other carbon-based pollutants.
Just before the BP disaster I spent a week with my wife and our daughter in Northern California, visiting old friends and trolling along the coastline where we filmed A Sea Change. We saw the molting elephant seals at Ano Nuevo, the beach glass combers at Davenport, and the baby goats in Pescadero. I’ve been along that stretch of coastline many times before and it never disappoints. The weather always seems to be sunny and pleasant, and you can’t drive a mile without coming across some marvel of nature or a dramatic scene of cliffs diving into the ocean. The windy, elevated stretch of Route 1 near Pacifica will soon by bypassed by the Devil’s Slide tunnel, so you’ll have to get there soon to get that roller-coaster feeling in your stomach as your car slithers along the mountainside.
On one rainy, misty day we took the opportunity to head down for a visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which is featured on a couple of occasions in A Sea Change. Once you get over the sticker shock ($29.95 for those over 12…at least it’s going to a good cause) there may be no better indoor space on earth to bring a child, especially one who has just woken up from a nap, has eaten and is full of energy and curiosity. All the sea animals I remembered are still there: the sardine rotunda, the jellyfish tanks, the sea turtle habitat, the bat ray petting pool and the playful otters.
The newest exhibit at the aquarium features Sea Horses, some of the most bizarre and mysterious little creatures around. Some resemble the Preying Mantis, taking the color and shape of seaweed to blend into their surroundings. Other species look more like what I'd imagined; upright ponies gliding along, propelled by a row of tendrils along their spine. They are delicate and intricate, sublime in their evolution.
This was my first visit to the aquarium as a parent, and I soon realized that there were exhibits I’d never even seen before, the kind of exhibits are invisible until your child runs to them squealing with arms waving and eyes wide open.
These of course are the specially designed children’s play areas all around the aquarium, where kids press buttons that play clips of seal calls, dunk wooden fish in water and climb and bounce on all kinds of structures. But beyond the collection of fish tanks and the playgrounds what I was struck by the most at the aquarium was the extent of the exhibits that have been built to educate visitors about climate change, sustainability, and specifically about ocean acidification. I don’t know exactly when these dioramas and interactive displays were installed, but there seemed to be at least one in each exhibit. They ranged from a mock kitchen illustrating how food choices contribute to greenhouse gas emissions to diagrams of renewable energy options to a graphic description of the threat of ocean acidification. I suppose what I found most encouraging was that the aquarium could easily have taken the neutral position that their animal exhibits embody their educational efforts, and left it at that. Instead, they clearly went to great expense, and perhaps some institutional risk, to display a series of exhibits that could invite hate mail or worse in an era when skeptics threaten scientists with violence and reject common sense at every turn. As individuals, as governments, and as a global community, we all need to find the courage to take responsibility for the impact of our actions on this planet and to make change in our own spheres. The Monterey Bay Aquarium has given us one graceful example of how this might be accomplished.
-Ben Kalina, Associate Producer, A Sea Change
Our green aspirations
Monday, August 18, 2008
Ben Kalina speaks briefly about our plans to produce a film with a small carbon footprint and a big educational footprint, while making art in the process. Yes, and when we're finished with that, we'll be balancing the U.S. budget and drinking to world peace.
Thanks to Cameron Hickey from Pattern Films for shooting and to our carbon-free buddies Green Code and Carbon Planet.
Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4), Flash Video (.flv)
This video was originally shared on blip.tv by Niijii Films with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license.
Greening your filmmaking
Monday, August 18, 2008
Marie-France Cote headed up a green filmmaking panel at Silverdocs 2007. 
Both a film producer and co-founder of the Green Code Project, Marie-France spoke about the expanding, international assortment of people who are part of Green Code (Greencoders!) and what they are doing to come up with practical steps to give filmmaking a smaller "footprint."
Both a film producer and co-founder of the Green Code Project, Marie-France spoke about the expanding, international assortment of people who are part of Green Code (Greencoders!) and what they are doing to come up with practical steps to give filmmaking a smaller "footprint." Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4), Flash Video (.flv)
This video was originally shared on blip.tv by Niijii Films with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.
Sustainable filmmaking--discussion begins
Monday, May 19, 2008
Before production, Barbara Ettinger,Sven Husby, and Ben Kalina talk about how to go about green filmmaking.From the paper in the printer to lights on the set: we can't takeanything for granted any more. Especially not if we're going to make afilm about the consequences of excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
As we got started on our documentary about how carbon dioxide is radically reshaping the world's oceans we were eager, and maybe even felt a bit obligated, to try to reduce the CO2 footprint of our own filmmaking process. In this 3 minute clip, filmed as production began in the spring of 2007, Barbara, Sven and Ben talk about their big ideas for making A Sea Change a sustainable film production.
This will be the first of many blog entries focused on sustainable filmmaking. As we chart the trials and tribulations of walking the walk of reducing our filmmaking footprint, we're eager to hear your thoughts on what we tried to do, what we might have done, and what you're doing in the film and video universe to reduce your impact on the planet.
We've been working since the beginning of 2007 with the Greencode Project, an international collective of filmmakers based in Canada working to promote and establish environmentally friendly practices that willhelp create an International set of standards for the film and mediaindustry. We're also working with Carbon Planet, based in Australia, who are helping us to conduct an energy audit to establish a carbon footprint for our film which will help us to estimate how many carbon credits we're going to need to buy to offset the mess we've made during the production of A Sea Change.
Special thanks to Josh Aronson for shooting.
An Early Report from the Royal Society
Monday, May 12, 2008
This 2005 summary report from the Royal Society is a call for immediate reductions in CO2 emissions.
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Climate change/global warming TV More About the Film Sustainable Filmmaking Education Daniel de la Calle COP-15 Food and Drink ocean acidification Activism Blurbs Politics Screenings Barbara Ettinger Copenhagen Sven Huseby More Links More Crew News More F.A.Q.s Martha Stewart Interview DVDs Conservation/environment Angela Alston Ocean Science Reviews of A Sea Change Site News Ben Kalina Video Blog More Photos Current Affairs Green technology Film Festivals Events Interviews
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