POSTER

Louie Psihoyos

2008/ 92' / USA
Režija / Director: Louie Psihoyos

AWARDS:

Sundace Film Festival, 2009 – Audience Award
HOTDOCS Film Festival, 2009 – Audience Award
SilverDocs Film Festival, 2009 – Audience Award
Sydney Film Festival, 2009 – Audience Award

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Louis Psihoyos is one of the world's most acclaimed photographers (in the thirty years of his career, he has shot hundreds of covers for some of the world's famous magazines including Smithsonian, Discover, Geo, Time, Newsweek, The New York Times Magazine. He has also worked for the Discovery Channel, National Geographic and History Channel). Having graduated from the college, he joined the National Geographic. His career abounds in humane efforts to raise the awareness about some of the world's leading environmental issues through his scientific, research and artistic engagement.

ABOUT THE FILM:

An incredible cast made up of divers, surfers, underwater cameramen, environmental activists, scientists and, of course, Louis Psihoyos, the director of the film, has made a shocking action eco-documentary that deals with the dolphin slaughter in a small fishing town in Japan. Edited in the spirit of a spy thriller, this film – which has won the attention of the audience worldwide and for which the world's critics have so far uttered nothing but words of praise – actually describes an adventure of an activist team who was ready to risk physical assaults, arrests, detentions in order to find out the truth. In one of the interviews, the author of the film said that he was tired of being a passive observer of the cruelty that people continuously exercised: „We are a nation of observers; we observe the downfall of our environment and wait for others to solve those problems“. The Cove is an investigative documentary film which, in a very emotional and exciting way, topicalises a global deficiency when it comes to people’s attitude towards the crucial issues of the survival on the Planet (apart from the discovery of one of the cove's darkest secrets, the film also exposes the lack of accountability when it comes to public health protection granted by Japanese authorities who, along with the corporations, promote the advertising of dolphin meat which is as toxic as whale meat. the Agency for environmental research submitted a report on the fact that these meat products contain more mercury than the allowed amount (by 10%). It is necessary to note that the production of this film would not have been possible were it not for the engagement of Ric O'Barry, one of the world's most acclaimed dolphin trainers and a verified activist who generously provided his assistance in revealing the atrocities from the Taiji Cove where dolphins, whose market price probably amounts to more that $150 thousand, are being brutally slaughtered. Finally, apart from the horrifying message about human inhumanity and irresponsibility, about ignorance which deprives humanity of a sustainable future, this film possesses a very specific, almost lyrical tinge which alleviates the adrenalin boost of this fascinatingly daring and proactive documentary.