Australian filmmakers Danielle Ryan and James Sherwood travelled the globe for three years on a shoestring budget in search of exceptional ocean conservation heroes in order to tell an important story. This story, ‘The Map to Paradise’, delivers a colourful collection of character-driven stories that convey the quest of individuals, communities and nations doing what they can to protect the last wild and pristine marine places on Earth. The 95-minute feature film includes a cast of renowned figure-heads, such as Prince Albert II of Monaco, President of Palau Tommy Remengesau, Sea Shepherd’s founder Captain Paul Watson and National Geographic Explorer Enric Sala.
One Ocean Expeditions collaborated with the film crew while they traveled on the ‘Marine Mammals‘ voyage aboard the Akademik Ioffe in 2017, with an Antarctic segment filmed with renowned marine mammal scientist Ari Friedlaender, who works with One Ocean to perform ground-breaking whale research.
We are excited for the world premiere of the feature-length film, taking place at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival this January 2019. The film premiere is the first official screening after a private screening was held by Prince Albert II of Monaco at the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco in June 2018.
The filmmakers say that the release of The Map to Paradise is very timely as global talks have just begun for a treaty to protect the High Seas. “Countries around the world are currently looking to re-map, re-zone and re-write the rules on a global and local scale – an exciting new protection paradigm for nature in an age where humans are the primary cause of a massive loss of species,” said Danielle Ryan, “The solutions are there, and they are proven to work, but we aren’t embracing them on a large enough scale.”
One Ocean is planning regional premieres for both Antarctica and the Canadian Arctic aboard our vessels Akademik Sergey Vavilov and RCGS Resolute in the future. The film allows us to share and promote our science initiatives with a broader audience. Leading by example, we want to solidify our commitment to conserve and protect ocean ecosystems around the world. One Ocean Expeditions invests a great deal into the protection of the fragile ecosystems we visit and we consider it an incredible honour to see our dedication to scientific research captured in such an inspiring and collaborative approach.
To find out more about The Map to Paradise visit them here.
Watch the official trailer here.
To find out more about our ‘Marine Mammal’ voyages click here.