MY HERO content for INSPIRE Friday - Ocean Conservation

Sylvia Earle AwardMY HERO

Introduction: Do you love the ocean? Do you want to make a difference? The MY HERO Project is calling for entries for short films that best address issues of ocean conservation for the 2022 ‘Sylvia Earle Ocean Conservation Award,’** which comes with a $500 prize. Ongoing submissions. Next Deadline March 1 - Final Deadline 5/1/2022.

Weekly Blasts:

1) Meet Nemonte Nenquimo, Ecuadorian Waorani Indigenous leader, whose Indigenous campaign and legal action resulted in a court ruling protecting 500,000 acres of Amazonian rainforest and Waorani territory from oil extraction. The film Rainforest Action, narrated by Robert Redford and produced by Will Parrinello of the Mill Valley Film Group for the Goldman Environmental Prize, was awarded Best in Fest at the 2021 MY HERO International Film Festival. Read more HERE. To enter the 2022 MY HERO International Film Festival go to: myhero.com/festival-information.

2) Since 2014, award-winning filmmaker Dayna Reggero has been traveling across America with her Climate Listening Project, listening to people who are confronting fossil fuel industries, climate change impacts, and a culture of extraction. The Story We Want - Episode 1 - Coal and Climate, features two grassroots environmental activists, Tracey Brown Edwards and Caroline Rutledge Armijo of Walnut Cove, a small town in North Carolina, where fossil fuel pollution is making people sick. The film, a story of hope, won a Special Hero Award at the MY HERO’s 17th Annual International Film Festival. Read more HERE. To enter the 2022 MY HERO International Film Festival go to: myhero.com/festival-information.

3) The Sentinel is a beautiful film written and directed by Brendan Donovan for LiveOcean, Peter Burling and Blair Tuke's ocean conservation charity. It was released in 2020 for the first World Albatross Day to draw attention to the crisis facing the Antipodean albatross. The film, which was commissioned and produced by Sir Ian Taylor at ARL/Taylormade Media and edited by Sarah Grohnert, won 1st Place Environmental and was a finalist in the 2021 Sylvia Earle Ocean Conservation Award category at the MY HERO’s 17th Annual International Film Festival.  Read more HERE about the Sylvia Freeman Award. To enter the 2022 MY HERO International Film Festival go to: myhero.com/festival-information.

4) Boujmaa Guilloul is a professional windsurfer from Morocco. In An Ocean of Tea, made by Sème Production, Grégoire Scherpe & Pierre Bouras, Guilloul talks about his connection with the sea in the country of Essaouira located in Morocco. The short film won 1st Place in Sports' Heroes and was a finalist in the 2021 Sylvia Earle Ocean Conservation Award category at the MY HERO’s 17th Annual International Film Festival. Read more HERE about the Sylvia Freeman Award. To enter the 2022 MY HERO International Film Festival go to: myhero.com/festival-information.

5) Rise from the Cape Flats, directed by: Shamier Magmoet, is a documentary about a man who lives in the heart of the notorious Cape Flats, one of the most dangerous places in the world. After one life-changing encounter upon experiencing the ocean, he now does everything in his power to advocate for positive change within his community through education and affording the youth to experience the ocean, becoming advocates and protectors of thereof. The film won the 2021 MY HERO Festival’s Sylvia Earle Ocean Conservation Award. Read more HERE. To enter the 2022 MY HERO International Film Festival go to: myhero.com/festival-information.

6) MABON ‘The 8 year old activist directed by Jack Davies won the Youth Ocean Activist Winner at the 17^th MY HERO Film Festival.  Starring Mabon and Laura Sanderson, this film is about a young boy called Mabon who spends time cleaning his favorite beaches. Mabon and his mum, Laura, a wild swimmer, take their time to methodically clean the beach and name and shame the brands that produce the single-use plastic in the first place. The film won the 2021 MY HERO festival Sylvia Earle Youth Conservation Activist Award. Read more HERE. To enter the 2022 MY HERO International Film Festival go to: myhero.com/festival-information.

Notes:

MY HERO would like to thank MacGillivray-Freeman* for their continued support and for their heroic efforts to protect our seas. Read the FULL STORY HERE.

*MacGillivray-Freeman Films Educational Foundation’s One World One Ocean Campaign sponsors the ‘Sylvia Earle Ocean Conservation Award’** annually at the MY HERO International Film Festival. 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.”

About MY HERO International Film Festival

The MY HERO International Film Festival brings together professional and youth filmmakers who honor local and global heroes working for positive change in the world.  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.

To view the 2021 award-winning films, go to Winners

For more details about MY HERO's International Film Festival, please visit myhero.com/FilmFestival