Documentary Film Project – Nai’a

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The adventure of this film has started since Nai’a’s birth. During the first 5 years of her life, Nai’a’s father (Jean-Marie) filmed her growth and the evolution of her relationship to the Ocean and its inhabitants. A substantial image bank of her daily life, on land and in the water, is available through the dedication of both parents. The footage will serve as building blocks for this new feature length documentary and as transitional material from « The Journey » (the film relating Leina’s pregnancy) to the « sequel » Nai’a.

 The next step is to follow Nai’a’s journey until she is eight years old with a professional crew. We will be working with the same production company (Bellota Films) and directors (Anne Paris and Jan Kounen) as we did for THE JOURNEY. However the pre-production phase can be a lengthy process, as well as gathering funding through standard circuits.

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Ocean Seed Foundation will therefore  enter in co-production in order to assume this transition period and support the shooting of the first sequences in 2020. 

 

Educational Programs

 

Our mid-term goal at Ocean Seed is to create a Retreat Center on the island of Hawai’i, an « inter-species school » dedicated to education and learning from the Living Earth and Ocean. This project requires substantial funding and its realisation will take a few years.

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Until its creation, the Foundation’s boat will serve as the launching platform for our educational programs starting 2020.  The Piko Kai will allow us to take keiki (children) out at sea to meet the marine species inhabiting the Hawaiian waters. Contacts with local organizations have been established and a beautiful team of qualified facilitators has come together to offer guidance and a safe space for exploration to the children. 

 

Love Japan Dolphins – in collaboration with Yurai

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Music and Film will be the main vehicules in this awareness raising campaign for the Japanese whales and dolphins.

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A collaborative effort with Yurai - a beautiful family of nature-inspired musicians, Love Japan Dolphins is rooted in the conviction that activism can be joyful and celebratory and that change must come from within, rather than from outside pressure.

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The reality in Japan in regard to the dolphin and whale situation is nuanced and complex. Most individuals have deep affection for our ocean kin and eco-tourism is a blossoming and popular activity. However environmental awareness remains limited. A great percentage of the population in Japan is still unaware of the annual dolphin hunt in Taiji and the resumption of commercial whaling in their waters. 

 Concerts and Screenings of « The Journey » will be held in different locations throughout Japan in 2020 and beyond -as an effort to raise awareness on the plight of the Japanese dolphins and whales. We also wish to bring about a shift in perspective by communicating on « who » the Cetaceans are, their sentient nature and emotional intelligence, in order to initiate a wave of support from within the Japanese community.

 

Events in Okinawa, Hayama, Tokyo, Kyoto, Hida-Takayama and Taiji are already scheduled.

 

Slowness

 

The documentary film project, Nai’a and the time we will subsequently dedicate to interacting with marine species will facilitate the implementation of the Slowness project. A great part of the budget is tied to the crew’s traveling costs and boat rentals but those will now be mostly covered by the film production.

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Your donation will help acquire the measuring instruments, software and hardware and adapt it to underwater field work, as well as interpret the collected data.