Dolphin Cruelty Film Upcoming

Details

Movies

Thursday, 31 December 2009 05:55

By press release

The Cove, a suspenseful and compelling indictment of Japan’s deadly dolphin-exploitation industry, and one of the most decorated films of the year, will have a special viewing this Saturday, January 2, 2010 at 7pm at the Museum of Antigua and Barbuda on Long Street, courtesy of ABITPC, the Antigua and Barbuda Independent Tourism Promotion Corporation headed by Martha Gilkes.

Described by the Los Angeles Times as “a powerful and effective piece of advocacy filmmaking”, The Cove tells the story of a small coastal town in Japan that masquerades as a dolphin-friendly spot, and a group of determined environmental activists who are relentless in their efforts to document the capture and slaughter of thousands of these amazing marine mammals for their meat.

Leading the group is dolphin crusader Ric O’Barry, famous for capturing and training the dolphins that became Flipper on the 60’s television series by that name, and who helped start the multi-million dollar seaquarium industry (O’Barry gave a talk on dolphins some years ago at the Museum in Antigua);

Director, Louie Psihoyos, a National Geographic photographer who is one of the founders of the Oceanic Preservation Society and who won the Audience Award and standing ovations at this year’s Sundance Film Festival;

Cinematographer Brooke Aitken, and a team of marine specialists, high-tech experts and experienced divers.  The footage, which at times can be very graphic, is edited by Geoffrey Richman and enhanced by J. Ralph’s suspenseful score.

To get the results they needed, cameras and microphones were skillfully hidden in imitation rocks created by George Lucas’ visual effects company ILM (Industrial Light and Magic), and world-class free-divers placed other cameras under the water.  The object, explains the Director, was “not just to capture the slaughter, but to make people want to change.”  

The Cove isn’t just the story of the indiscriminate slaughter of dolphins worldwide.  It is educational in teaching us about how Japan monopoly on the global fish market, may single-handedly be compromising the world’s fragile eco-systems.  It teaches us about dolphin intelligence, their relationship to humans, about how successful the Japanese are in lobbying the International Whaling Commission, and about the dangers of eating mercury-tainted dolphin meat.

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