WAIMEA — Walking through the luxury halls of the Fairmont Orchid Hotel Resort, orchid bloomed as numerous as grapes at Julius Caesar’s banquet. The oasis of manicured green landscapes felt unrealistic within the a’a lava flow. Hidden within the resort’s
WAIMEA — Walking through the luxury halls of the Fairmont Orchid Hotel Resort, orchid bloomed as numerous as grapes at Julius Caesar’s banquet. The oasis of manicured green landscapes felt unrealistic within the a’a lava flow. Hidden within the resort’s amphitheater, an enclave of environmental thought and conservationism was taking place at this year’s Waimea Ocean Film Festival.
It was only one of the festival’s multiple venues. Showing over 60 films in eight days, it is no surprise that founder and organizer Tania Howard has outdone herself this year. The organization is seamless, the programs and schedule crisp and invigorating, and the speakers, exhibits and question-and-answer sessions were nearly sold out on Sunday.
Graham Deneen, a resident of the San Francisco Bay area, took his seat for his third film of the festival. Deneen came to the Big Island to attend the festival and see his work as an editor on the film “The Roots Of Ulu” on the big screen.
“Great venues and great films,” Deneen said. “The audiences are super engaged and participate in the Q and A sessions for as much as 45 minutes after the show. I’m very impressed.”
At the Fairmont, the film “Humpback Whales” was shown. The film is beautiful; each frame breathtaking in its scope, from Tonga to Alaska and Hawaii. The footage of whales singing, breaching, escorting and competing for mates is extraordinary. The effort of many devoted scientists and conservationists is deeply felt throughout the film — never more so than when a team of scientists here in Hawaii risks their own safety to free a young whale from long lines of tangled fishing debris.
Directly after the show, Chad Wiggins, the director of the Nature Conservancy’s Hawaii Island Marine Program, fielded questions from the audience. Topics ranged from why the whales are late this year to what can we do to help protect whales and other marine life. Issues are raised and discussed at length about coral bleaching and discarded fishing nets among other environmental concerns.
This is the moment when you walk out of a wonderful film like Humpback Whales and into the world of the Fairmont Orchid, and the conflict of images is unavoidable. We must ask ourselves, how do we support whales and all marine ecosystems while our culture simultaneously maintains its thirst for such a materialistic lifestyle? How does one make a difference?
At another venue, later that afternoon, “Nazare Calling” refuseed to leave its viewers with anything less than the resounding message of: Now is your moment!
The effects of the film are not left at the exit of the theater, but remain pounding inside one’s head with images of Andrew Cotten and Garret McNamara riding glacier-sized waves, looking like fleas on a bison.
Raw and inspirational humanity, the film brings us on a heart-pounding and yet contemplative journey without any sort of pretentiousness. Unscripted and unpolished, the film takes place in a humble Portuguese town of antiquity which possesses extraordinary geological shoreline features that shape gigantic waves, near biblical in proportion.
McNamara and his surfing ohana go to Nazare seeking these big waves but also more: An opportunity to chase their dreams, face their fears, and find that moment when everything comes together in perfect connectedness, and you have the ride of your life.
The music of the film matches not only the culture and geography of its location, but also reaches into the emotional depth of the human condition, and into a place where a surfer must go to face an 80-foot wave.
After the film, McNamara himself stood up with his wife Nicole, for the Q and A session. The question was inevitably asked by a member of the audience: How do you prepare yourself to go and surf a wave that big?
“I stop a moment and breathe in the trees,” he responded. “I breathe in the mountains. I breathe in everything and I’m connected to everything. It sounds silly, but it works. Then I’m ready.”
It has been said that surfers are the only truly free people in our culture. Whether that is true or not, “Nazare Calling” goes beyond the confines of the surfing community and demands its viewers to ask themselves, from one heart to another, what is it you want to do? And will you allow yourself a chance to do it?
In short, this year’s Waimea Ocean Film Festival is extraordinary.
Mahalo to Tania Howard and her colleagues for bringing to the Big Island this opportunity to view these films, which for most of us would have otherwise remained in obscurity.
The festival continues today through Friday at the Four Seasons Resort Hualala.
