Each of the five films screened at the 2011 Underwater Film Festival was unique in style, subject matter and genre, although each in its own way served to underline the importance of protecting the marine environment.
The annual event, which took place on Monday, November 7, at the Westin Casuarina Resort & Spa, was an important fundraising event for the Cayman Islands Tourism Association in addition to being an opportunity for underwater enthusiasts to view a collection of underwater films. The film screening was preceded by a cocktail reception and silent auction where members of the public could bid on a number of prizes donated by CITA members. For those involved in the dive industry it was also an opportunity to meet some of the world’s leading underwater explorers and film makers.
“The feedback has been very positive. People really enjoyed the variety of films that were shown as we had films from both inductees to the Scuba Diving Hall of Fame as well as local films from CCMI and a little teaser of HD footage filmed in Cayman waters,” said Trina Christian, CITA director.
The first film, presented by Allan Power, concerned the Wreck of the President Coolidge, considered to be one of the best and most accessible wreck dives of its kind in the world. The 654-foot luxury ocean liner was launched in the early 1930s, but was converted into a troop carrier when World War II broke out. Upon entering the harbour at Santo Espiritu, Vanuatu, the President Coolidge was badly damaged by mines that the captain had not been informed of and sunk just offshore. The wreck now lies with the bow in 70 feet and the stern at over 200 feet.
Diver and filmmaker Allan Power has been diving the wreck of the President Coolidge twice a day almost every day for the past 40 years and knows it better than anybody. The film follows him as he explores the different decks, identifying what were once fans, lamps, even cutlery and crockery, interspersed with footage of the ship in her heyday. Award-winning photographers and filmmakers Howard and Michele Hall, whose work on underwater IMAX films such as Into the Deep, Island of Sharks and Deep Sea 3D, is known around the world, described some of the challenges they faced in filming these 3D movies. Long before digital film changed the face of photography and film, they operated a cumbersome 1,300 pound underwater camera that required a team of 12 to operate it successfully, they said. Shooting reels of film one thousand feet long, each reel cost around US$10,000 and produced just three minutes of film.
In addition to showing footage of curious and apparently fearless sea lions investigating their camera in South Australia, they finished their presentation with a demonstration of the latest Red One film technology, which produces images in a far higher resolution than standard HD.
French diver, photographer, painter and author Andre Laban’s film Iris et Oniris, was a very different example of underwater filming. Mr Laban, who originally served on Jacques Cousteau’s Calypso team and helped develop some of the earliest underwater cameras had made a whimsical film that was part mime, part comedy. The protagonists were all dressed in everyday clothes, walked upright and played out their entire story underwater, without appearing at any point to breathe.
Steve Broadbelt of Ocean Frontiers then gave an update of the lionfish situation in the Cayman Islands, accompanied by footage of licensed cullers spearing the invasive species. He commended the decision of the Department of Environment to lift the ban on spear fishing while using scuba equipment for the purposes of keeping lionfish populations under control and emphasised the importance of continued culling. He also announced that Foster’s Food Fair have donated $20,000 to an environmental fund that will support projects such as lionfish culling. The donation has come from the five cents charged for each plastic bag sold in Fosters supermarkets.
The Central Caribbean Marine Institute presented a short film highlighting some of the important biomedical research being carried out on Little Cayman’s reefs. It also followed photographer Jim Hellemn as he returned to Bloody Bay Wall 10 years after creating his first composite photograph of the wall, and shot the same exact section of reef again. The comparison revealed significantly more ‘green’ from algae growth in 2011 compared to a decade before, and a related loss of coral cover.
The ended on a high note with a short film shot in HD in Cayman waters that highlighted the diversity of marine life found here.
The Underwater Film Festival and the Induction of new members into the Scuba Diving Hall of Fame the following day, Tuesday, 8 November, coincide with the 2011 Scuba Bowl, a trade show aimed at promoting Cayman Islands diving internationally.
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