Ocean Film Festival 2010

Key Note Speakers

Most of the panel members will be available together for discussion with the audience after the evening films. In addition, individual panel members will be available when their own films are shown.

Tim Arnold
Tim Arnold is a recent graduate from Savannah College of Art and Design where he studied film production. As a filmmaker, he was compelled to focus on the effects of the Oil Spill in the Gulf, teaming up with an old friend and native of New Orleans, Landon Lott, to help spread the voices of the afflicted. Together, we sought to clarify ambiguities of the wide reaching effects of the disaster on the communities and environment.

(Tim Arnold and Landon Lott's film, "Skimming the Surface" is among the films in the 2010 Gray's Reef Ocean Film Festival.)

Around the Globe Sea Chantey Singers
This Athens, Georgia, based group sings chanteys, the work songs of the ships and docks from the great age of sail, as well as other maritime songs, striving for the authenticity and verve that these songs demand. Organized by Art Rosenbaum, for over 50 years a collector and performer of traditional American music, the group, mainly art students and former art students from the University of Georgia where Art was Professor of Art, have yet to make a long sea voyage Their name comes from the Globe Tavern in Athens, where they get together to sing. They have performed at the Charleston Maritime Festival, The North Georgia Folk Festival, The Athens Human Rights Festival, and at the Highland Inn Ballroom in Atlanta. Besides Art, Savannah native Mason Savage, Wes Airgood, Bart Lynch, and others, will be "chanteymen", leading the "call and response" songs. Their first CD, "Way Down in Dixie" includes many chanteys of the Southern cotton trade out of ports like Savannah, Mobile, and New Orleans, where African American and Yankee and British folk singing traditions blended. Their second CD will hopefully be ready for their Savannah appearance. Most of the chanteys are sung a cappella, as they were on shipboard and on the docks; Art accompanies some songs on guitar, accordion, and 5 and 7-string banjos; and plays a few nautical-themed fiddle tunes and also performs mountain music and blues both solo and with his wife, Margo. Art's four-CD compilation Art of Field Recording Vol. I received a 2008 Grammy for Best Documentary Recording.

(The Around the Globe Sea Chantey Singers will perform at the Gray's Reef Ocean Film Festival both Friday September 17 and Saturday September 18 before the films begin.)

Jon Bowermaster For nearly 20 years, writer and filmmaker Jon Bowermaster has explored the environment, and exotic corners of the world for a variety of national and international publications, ranging from National Geographic to the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic Monthly to Outside. He has written eight books, three with renowned polar explorer Will Steger. His travels have taken him to seven continents and included two-person sledging across Antarctica, sailing a 60-foot sailboat across the Atlantic, and first descents of rivers from Chile to China. His expeditions have been supported by six grants from National Geographic's Expeditions Council.
His most recent book is "OCEANS, The Threats to the Sea and What You Can Do To Turn the Tide." The latest films from Jon and his team continue to garner praise. "Terra Antarctica," documenting a six-week long exploration of the Antarctic Peninsula by sail and sea kayak won "Best Ocean Issues" award from the Blue Ocean Film Festival; "What Would Darwin Think? Man v. Nature in the Galapagos" was awarded "Best Environmental Film" at the Vancouver International Film Festival.
Around the planet, more than three billion people live within 35 miles of a coast and depend on the seas that surround. Meanwhile, impacts on marine ecosystems have compromised the relationship between the world's oceans and humanity. Jon's work allows for a unique exploration of this profound connection.
His reporting on the relationship between man and the sea continues with his blog – "Notes from Sea Level" - giving him a daily forum for continuing the conversation with a growing audience. Jon has just finished a powerful new film called "SoLa - Louisana Water Stories" about Southern Louisianans and the water that surrounds them – creeks, rivers, bayous, the Gulf, the Mississippi River.
When not on the sea, Bowermaster lives in the Hudson Valley of New York.

(Jon Bowermaster's films, "SoLa, Louisiana Water Stories," "What Would Darwin Think?, Man vs. Nature in the Galapagos," and "Terra Antarctica - Rediscovering the Seventh Contine" are among the films in the 2010 Gray's Reef Ocean Film Festival.)

Robbie Fisher
Robbie Fisher is a native of Greenville, Mississippi. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, and her law degree from Suffolk University Law School in Boston. In 1999, after a number of years practicing law, Robbie became the State Director of The Nature Conservancy in Mississippi and served in that role until 2008, when she decided to focus her energies on her love of filmmaking.
Robbie served as executive producer, writer and co-editor of the 2009 documentary, "The Gulf Islands: Mississippi's Wilderness Shore," a beautiful account of Mississippi's barrier islands, touching upon their history, preservation, and role in coastal ecosystems. The film has aired on more than 15 PBS affiliates and has received national recognition, including a recent Southeastern Regional Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Photography and a Southeastern Regional Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement, Historical Documentary.
Robbie was the executive producer of another award winning documentary, Boogaloo & Eden: Sustaining the Sound, about two Delta musicians from her hometown of Greenville. This production earned a Gabriel Award and a Chris Award. She also contributed to the Emmy award winning documentary, "The Singing River: Rhythms of Nature,"which tells the story of the Pascagoula River, from its headwaters to the Gulf of Mexico.

(Robbie Fisher's film, "The Gulf Islands: Mississippi's Wilderness Shore" is among the films in the 2010 Gray's Reef Ocean Film Festival.)

Landon Lott
Landon Lott is native artist and resident of New Orleans, Louisiana. Upon recent completion of his undergraduate degree from the Savannah College of Art and Design, he and his film partner Tim Arnold have been spending a majority of their time raising awareness to the impact of the gulf oil spill. He believes that it is the responsibility of the individual to enact change for his or her community. With grateful contributions and donations from family and friends, I am continuing my research and documentation of the gulf coast, and will continue to do so until the truth is heard.

(Landon Lottand Tim Arnold's film, "Skimming the Surface" is among the films in the 2010 Gray's Reef Ocean Film Festival.)

Kevin McCarey
Writer-Director Kevin McCarey worked five years as a physical oceanographer before attending the University of Oregon for an MA in Film Studies. As writer-director for Turner Broadcasting he worked on the Peabody Award winning series "Portrait of America." For 12 years he worked principally for National Geographic Specials on films such as "Sea Monsters," "Tigers of the Snow," and "Dolphins: The Wild Side, Deadly Love" and "Wolf Pack" for which he won an Emmy. His narrative short, San Juan Story, was an Academy Award semi-finalist. His narrative feature, "Coyotes", won Best Feature Film at the Savannah Film Festival. Currently he is a professor in the Film and Television Dept of the Savannah College of Art and Design.

(Kevin McCarey is a senior advisor to the Gray's Reef Ocean Film Festival.)

Peter J. Pepe
Peter Pepe is a video producer and director with over 30 years experience and the President of Pepe Productions in Glens Falls, NY. Pepe is an Executive Producer of "The Lost Radeau: North America's Oldest Intact Warship." Pepe was also the Executive Producer of "Firescene Video Magazine" (1994-1999). Together with Joseph W. Zarzynski, Pepe is currently working on a new documentary entitled: "Search for the Jefferson Davis: Trader, Slaver, Raider" (release-autumn 2010, Pepe Productions); in conjunction with the Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program.

(Peter Pepe's film "Wooden Bones: The Sunken Fleet of 1758" is the co-winner of the 2010 Gray's Reef Ocean Film Festival, Maritime Heritage Category.)

Kathy Sloan
Kathy Sloane has spent the last 35 years photographing the political, social and cultural life of the San Francisco California Bay Area with an emphasis on the multicultural and multiethnic richness of the region. In 2009 she completed her first film, Witness to Hiroshima, which has been nominated for awards at several film festivals. In 2010 she finished the dual language edition of Witness to Hiroshima. (English and Japanese) Her book, Keystone Kroner: Portrait of a Jazz Club, will be published by Indiana University Press in October 2011. To see more about Kathy's film visit http://www.witnesstohiroshima.com/ .

(Kathy Sloan's film, "Witness to Hiroshima," is the winner of 2010 Gray's Reef Ocean Film Festival, Short Film Category.)

Keenan Smart
His National Geographic Television & Film's Natural History Unit has garnered virtually every accolade in the documentary world. Its films are among the highest-rated programs of their kind airing on television today, setting ratings records the world over. Smart is responsible for the creation and supervision of all NGT&F natural history productions. Smart joined National Geographic in August 1991, bringing more than 14 years of natural history production experience from the BBC's acclaimed Natural History Unit. While with the BBC, he filmed nature in a wide variety of exotic and remote locations - from the rain forests of Borneo to the tundra in Alaska - producing numerous award-winning programs for "The World About Us," "Wildlife On One" and "The Natural World" series. He has received honors from such prominent film festivals as Wildscreen, the International Wildlife Film Festival of Missoula, and The Japan Wildlife Film Festival. Since the establishment of the NHU, films from Keenan's unit have won numerous major awards from the Wildscreen and Jackson Hole festivals and have received 29 Emmy Awards.

(Keenan Smart is a senior advisor to the Gray's Reef Ocean Film Festival and is in charge of judging student films submitted for the Dr. Robert O. Levitt Award of Emerging Filmmakers.)

Greg Smith
Photographer, writer, editor and producer Greg Smith has spent most of the past 30 years along and in the tidal May River near Bluffton, S.C. Recognized nationally as a photojournalist, editor and leader with photography advocacy groups, Greg is known locally for his pictures of May River wildlife and Lowcountry scenes.
He serves on the board of directors for the National Press Photographers Association and is a former state leader with the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP). He is particularly active on business practices and copyright issues.
In June 2009, Greg completed his 26-year quest for a master's degree from Ohio University. His multimedia master's project, "Keeping the May River Wild" was selected among the national Best of ASMP 2009. It screened at the Macon Film Festival and received the Southern Lens Award at the Beaufort Film Festival. An amalgam of video and sounds from the river, still photography, and interviews with river stakeholders, the documentary is set to air later this year on SC-ETV and available on DVD.
Greg has worked across the country for newspapers, magazines and communications agencies. He was managing editor of The Beaufort Gazette, Sunday editor of The Savannah Morning News and founding editor of Hilton Head Monthly. In 2003, University of North Carolina Press published Gullah Home Cooking the Daufuskie Way, which Greg co-authored with Sallie Ann Robinson. He has completed artist residencies at K-12 schools across South Carolina, and presented business practices workshops at colleges and events across the country. Learn more about Greg, his pictures and his projects at http://www.imediasmith.com/.

(Greg Smith's film, "Keeping the May River Wild" is among the films in the 2010 Gray's Reef Ocean Film Festival.)

Mickey Youmans
Youmans is a seasoned television documentary producer / director / cameraman who has directed the growth of several production companies that produce programming and television series that are distributed nationally and internationally. Current projects in development are "H2Outrageous," a series about water, and "Trout Town," a series that focuses on cold water sport fisheries. He s well versed in all aspects of television programming including the critical elements of cost management and production budgeting and controls. Youmans is an avid supporter of media industry development in the Southeast. His clients include CBS, ABC, NBC, BBC, The Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, A&E, PBS, The History Channel, Time-Life Television, FoxLorber, Fremantle, Viking Penguin Putnam, HarperCollins, Doubleday, and Simon & Schuster. He is a founder, president and board member of the Educational Media Foundation, a non-profit organization designed to help documentary producers see their projects reach fruition. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Savannah Film Commission.

(Mickey Youmans' films, "Farming the Seas: Oysters" and "Farming the Seas: Shrimp" are among the films in the 2010 Gray's Reef Ocean Film Festival.)

Joseph W. Zarzynski
Joseph W. Zarzynski, RPA, is an underwater archaeologist and is the Executive Director of Bateaux Below, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation that studies historic shipwrecks in the 32 mi. long Lake George, New York. Zarzynski is co-writer of the award-winning DVD documentary--"The Lost Radeau: North America's Oldest Intact Warship." He also co-wrote the script for the forthcoming documentary--"Search for the Jefferson Davis: Trader, Slaver, Raider" (release--autumn 2010, Pepe Productions); a collaborative project by Pepe Productions and the Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program. Zarzynski and his documentary filmmaking colleague, Peter J. Pepe (Pepe Productions), teach an annual workshop to archaeologists on the techniques of documentary filmmaking.

(Joseph Zarzynski's film "Wooden Bones: The Sunken Fleet of 1758" is the co-winner of the 2010 Gray's Reef Ocean Film Festival maritime heritage category.)