*ITHACA COLLEGE’S FINGER LAKES ENVIRONMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL HELPS BRING
DOCUMENTARY ON DOLPHIN SLAUGHTER TO ITHACA
*
ITHACA, NY — Ithaca College’s Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival
(FLEFF) will join Cinemapolis and the Finger Lakes Bioneers to present
the Ithaca premiere screening of “The Cove,” a documentary expose of the
annual killing of more than 23,000 dolphins in a lagoon in Japan. The
showing will take place at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 25, at Cinemapolis’s
new location at 120 E. Green St. General admission is $9; tickets for
seniors (64 and older) and children (12 and under) are $7.50. The
screening will be followed by a discussion featuring Todd Schack,
assistant professor of journalism at Ithaca College, and Christopher
Clark, the I.P. Johnson director of Cornell University’s Bioacoustic
Research Program.
Off the picturesque coast of Taiji, Japan, dolphins and whales swim in
abundance. But nearby is a cove protected by armed guards who challenge
anyone from entering, including anyone with a camera. What they don’t
want people to see, say the makers of “The Cove,” is the annual
six-month long slaughter of thousands of dolphins herded into the lagoon
by local fishermen.
Led by Ric O’Barry, who captured and trained the dolphins that played
the title character on the 1960s television sensation “Flipper,” the
production team of underwater sound and camera experts, marine explorers
and divers carried out an undercover operation to photograph what was
happening in the off-limits cove. To infiltrate the tight security
provided by the local police and to evade the watchful eyes of the local
fishermen, the crew used camouflaged, high-definition cameras designed
to look like rocks to capture footage for the film.
“’The Cove,’” wrote “Time” magazine’s Mary Pols, “puts Hollywood capers
like ‘Mission Impossible’ to shame.” According to a reviewer at the
Sundance Film Festival, “The Cove” is, “part environmental documentary,
part horror film, part spy thriller . . . as suspenseful as it is
enlightening.”
What the film shows is more than the brutal slaughter of intelligent
mammals.
“It’s really about over-fishing,” O’Barry said. “It’s a worldwide
problem. Basically, they’re killing the competition, because each of
those dolphins eats 25 to 30 pounds of fish. As for the dolphin meat,
nobody really knows where it goes. You can’t really even buy it in
Taiji. I’m thinking it might be exported to places that have a protein
shortage. We had this meat tested, and the mercury levels on it is
through the roof. It’s contaminated.”
Directed by Louie Psihoyos and produced by Paula DuPré Pesman and Fisher
Stevens, “The Cove” has won more than a dozen awards, including the
Audience Award at the 2009 Sundance, Hot Docs and Sydney Film Festivals
as well as Best Feature Film at the 2009 Nantucket Film Festival.
For more information, contact FLEFF co-director Patricia Zimmermann at
(607) 274-3431 or [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>.
Partnering with FLEFF in the screening of “The Cove,” the Finger Lakes
Bioneers is celebrating its 20th year of providing a global
environmental forum with practical solutions for people and the planet.
From Oct. 16 to 18, the Bioneers will hold its We Make Our Future
conference on the Ithaca College campus and various locations downtown.
For more information on the program and tickets prices, visit
www.wemakeourfuture.org <http://www.wemakeourfuture.org>.
_______________________________________________
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