Giannandrea Carpanzano is a Finalist for the MY HERO Sylvia Earle Ocean Conservation Award

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Abigail Richardson
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The MY HERO Project
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The short film I Feel You directed by Giannandrea Carpanzano is a finalist in the category of the Sylvia Earle Ocean Conservation Award at the MY HERO International Film Festival. Carpanzano, who is from Italy, supports the mission of Spazzapnea ODV: to protect and preserve the biodiversity of our seas, promoting environmental awareness and the importance of direct action through seabed and beach cleaning initiatives.

I Feel You is a powerful environmental story about the ocean’s fragile balance and the growing threat of pollution. For thousands of years, the ocean has sustained life on Earth, but plastic waste and human impact are now endangering its survival. As nature sends out a silent warning, the film highlights the urgent need for awareness and action to restore and protect the seas. Ultimately, it is a message of hope - showing that through human responsibility and nature’s resilience, the oceans can recover and inspire a cleaner, more sustainable future.

Directed by Giannandrea CarpanzanoI Feel You

Born in Sicily and adopted by Piedmont, Carpanzano nurtured a passion for videomaking from a young age. In 2016, he founded the innovative startup Professione Droni SRL, specializing in digitalization and video production, with a particular focus on drones, both aerial and underwater. In 2018, he became a freediving instructor at Apnea Academy, the prestigious school created by Umberto Pelizzari. Combining these two passions, Carpanzano specialized in underwater video shooting to tell stories about the sea and the mountains. Carpanzano explains, “These two seemingly opposite worlds convey shared emotions that deserve to be narrated…My experiences have driven me to explore, through video, the emotions tied to places, ventures, and people, striving to capture the essence of every story.”

MY HERO interviewed Giannandrea about his official selection and his inspiration behind the film.

Giannandrea Carpanzano Courtesy of Giannandrea Carpanzano  

Being officially selected for an award at the MY HERO International Film Festival represents a very important recognition for me, not only from an artistic perspective, but above all on a human and social level.

In particular, being a finalist for the Sylvia Earle Ocean Conservation Award is a great personal honour. I deeply admire Sylvia Earle and the extraordinary work she has dedicated to ocean conservation and public awareness.

I Feel You was created with the aim of building a profound connection between the audience and the underwater world. Knowing that this message has found a place within an international festival that celebrates stories capable of generating awareness and positive impact truly means a great deal to me.

This selection also represents recognition for all the people and organisations involved in the Spazzapnea project, which is dedicated to protecting the oceans through sea clean-up initiatives, environmental awareness campaigns and scientific outreach activities.

For an independent filmmaker, receiving this kind of international attention is a reminder that authentic stories can cross geographical and cultural boundaries, reaching people who may live very far apart, yet share the same values.

Why were you drawn to making this film?

I have always loved the sea: it is part of who I am. It inspires me, gives me vital energy, and makes me feel deeply connected to nature. For this reason, I feel I owe something back to it. I made this film to give a voice to the ocean and to support and raise awareness for SPAZZAPNEA, a project dedicated to protecting the seas through beach and seabed clean-up activities, as well as scientific and environmental education programmes in schools.

What are the particular strengths of  I Feel You?

I believe one of the main strengths of I Feel You is the complete absence of dialogue and narration. I wanted to tell the story of the sea purely through images, as if it were a silent cry for help — something that cannot be heard with the ears, but felt with the heart. The aim was to create an emotional and sensory experience capable of engaging the audience in a direct and personal way.

What are the issues that are most important to you (in general), and why?

The issues that matter most to me concern protecting the oceans from pollution and the indiscriminate exploitation of natural resources. I believe it is essential to move beyond the mentality of mankind as a dominant force and to understand that we are all part of the same world. Every living being is a link in the same chain that holds the world together.

Could you tell us about the process of making the film?

In 2022, I made a short film entitled Ocean’s Breath, Last Call (https://youtu.be/LoMFOuBDae0?si=qEY1YTBIh-g3JaQ5), a project exploring the deep connection between humanity and the ocean. The film was screened at numerous international festivals and also won an important award at the Y-40 Film Festival, which I decided to invest entirely into the production of I Feel You. I self-produced the project with the intention of giving a voice to the soul of the oceans, a voice that too often remains unheard.

To make the message universal, I chose to include a human figure within the visual narrative, allowing anyone to empathise with the suffering the sea is experiencing. The film was shot at Y-40, a deep pool situated in Italy. We worked extensively on the scenography by darkening the background to enhance the dramatic atmosphere, and after filling both the surface and the water column with plastic waste, we began filming.

Marina KazankovaGiannandrea Carpanzano  

The protagonists of the film are Marina Kazankova, world champion freediver, actress and Guinness World Record holder for the longest underwater dance, and Diego Gastaldi, former Paralympic athlete and passionate lover of the sea and travel.

What was it like for you making this film? What were some of the challenges, successes, and high points?

Making this film was both deeply emotional and extremely demanding. Unlike filming in the open sea, working in a pool environment requires every detail to be planned with absolute precision: storyboards, actors’ movements, lighting, operational depths, safety procedures, and scenography. Everything has to be perfectly coordinated in order to work within strict time frames and to avoid increased costs.

Courtesy of Giannandrea CarpanzanoGiannandrea Carpanzano 

The greatest challenge was undoubtedly wanting Diego as the male protagonist. His disability represents an enormous value within the film because it conveys a fundamental message: anyone can do something to protect the sea; you simply have to truly want to.

Ironically, the easiest part was finding enough plastic to fill the pool.

Giannandrea Carpanzano Giannandrea Carpanzano  

One of the moments I am most proud of was being able to self-produce the project in support of a cause that concerns all of us. For me, this film represents a starting point for continuing to tell stories about the beauty and fragility of our “blue friend”, while raising awareness among more and more people.

Do you have a mentor or a personal hero?

There are two figures who have inspired me profoundly since childhood. The first is Jacques-Yves Cousteau. When I was six years old, I watched one of his documentaries about sharks and was completely mesmerised by the way he was able to tell stories about the underwater world. The other is Umberto Pelizzari, who helped shape my passion for freediving. As a child, I watched him on television while he set his deep-diving records, and today I am fortunate enough to consider him my direct teacher.  He taught me many things, but above all, how to listen with the heart.

Watch I Feel You HERE.

About the Sylvia Earle Ocean Conservation Award

MY HERO Ocean-Minded Films Screening To Be Held At Rivian Laguna

Join MY HERO for a World Oceans Day celebration featuring a special screening of winning short films from the 2026 Sylvia Earle Ocean Conservation Award. Filmmakers and award presenters will be on hand at this special event and local organizations will be recognized for their work in protecting our oceans.  

Saturday, June 6, 2026
Doors open at 6:30pm
Films start at 7:00pm

Rivian South Coast Theater
162 South Coast Highway,

Laguna Beach, CA 92651

Ocean-minded nonprofits are welcome to participate in the June 6th event. Email [email protected] for information. 

About the Sylvia Earle Ocean Conservation Award

The award, which comes with up to $2,000 in Cash Prizes, is part of the MY HERO International Film Festival and is sponsored by MacGillivray Freeman Films Educational Foundation's One World One Ocean Campaign. 

“Sylvia Earle is our ocean hero, and we hope this award inspires aspiring filmmakers to shine a spotlight on other dedicated people from all walks of life who are working tirelessly on behalf of our oceans.“      - IMAX filmmaker.Greg MacGillivray

One World One Ocean is a global non-profit campaign designed to connect people emotionally to the world's ocean. Their mission is to raise awareness of ocean degradation, to inspire audiences through cinematography, and to spark a global movement to protect our seas.

Sylvia Earle is a world-renowned oceanographer, explorer, author, lecturer, leader, and research scientist who has led more than 70 expeditions, logging more than 6,500 hours underwater. Formally chief scientist of NOAA and now a National Geographic explorer-in-residence, she was awarded the 2009 TED Prize for her proposal to establish a global network of marine protected areas, called “hope spots.”

Read more about the award and its sponsors here.

To see previous winners of the MY HERO Sylvia Earle Ocean Conservation Award, or enter for 2027, go to: myhero.com/sylvia-earle-ocean-conservation-award

About the MY HERO International Film Festival:

The MY HERO Film Festival is an annual event dedicated to showcasing films that celebrate the power of the human spirit. The festival provides a platform for filmmakers to share inspirational stories of everyday heroes. Thanks to generous sponsors, prizes are awarded to elementary, middle school, high school, college and professionals in a variety of categories, including documentary, narrative, music video, animation, experimental, and more.

The festival aims to inspire audiences to recognize the heroism in their own lives and encourage positive actions in their communities. Learn more.