Antibes Festival with World Appeal

by Mary Lynn Price Wednesday, October 31st, 2007

The 2007 World Festival of Underwater Pictures at Antibes, France concluded earlier this week with Sunday’s screenings of this year’s prize winning entries. Capping off five days of underwater films, photo exhibits, and slide shows, the festival was also a great opportunity for abundant networking and merry-making. With festival entrants hailing from over 60 countries worldwide, the awards ceremony saw numerous prizes going to several Wetpixel contributors and forum regulars.

Among this year’s prize winners were Wetpixel associate editor Alex Mustard (World Prize for Book of Underwater Images), Mark Thorpe (Short Fiim Public Prize), Danny Van Belle (sweeping three separate short film prize prize categories including the Short Film Gold Prize), Julie Edwards (Best Image of Apneist Prize), and Scubazoo (Special Mention World Prize Book of Underwater Images). Leandro Blanco received the prestigious F.F.C.V. (French Federation of Cinema and Video) Prize. Leandro’s award-winning short film “One for All” can be viewed as the latest episode of DiveFilm Podcast Video. For a full list of prize winners in English, see the festival’s listing (PDF).

Wetpixel underwater imagers were well represented this year at the Antibes festival both through their numerous entries in a wide variety of categories from films and stills to books and websites, and through their attendance in person, traveling to the festival from at least five different countries. A booth hosted by DivePhotoGuide and Wetpixel served as a gathering place for people to meet and enjoy special spirits and beverages. Gyula Somogyi (Jules of Helioxfilm.com) facilitated the exhibition booth presence, including the very popular evening happy hour gatherings. Thank you, Jules!

Celebrating its 34th year as a world venue for underwater images, the World Festival of Underwater Pictures dedicated this year’s event to the 60th anniversary of Aqua Lung, the company based on the Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (SCUBA) invented by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Emille Gagnan.

However, this year’s festival was also unfortunately marred by the controversial decision to hold the event at Marineland in Antibes, France, as a number of individuals and organizations elected to stay away from the event this year based on opposition to the theme park’s captive cetacean (orca and dolphin) program.

The Festival Mondial de L’Image Sous-Marine at Antibes, France was first held in 1974, and has grown immensely since then. Organized by a non-profit foundation, the festival’s mission includes: to protect and conserve the photographs, films, videos and all images whatever the medium, entrusted to the World Festival of Underwater Pictures, and ensure the protection of copyright on the documents; and to foster and promote by all possible means knowledge and protection of the marine environment, its flora, fauna, its environment, its ecology and its natural wealth. For more information, please visit their website at Underwater-Festival.com.

Hi Folks, There's a lot to say about the Festival being hosted in Marineland... As I was working on an article for Buceadores around the controversy, I had the chance to interview quite a few of the main people on the show and here's what came out... Basically, on one side you have a show organizer who had lost 50'000 € last year and saw the show saved by this option; on the other hand, there is no other facility in Antibes that could have hosted the show; on a third level, Marineland solved one main issue as it offers ample parking spaces which were cause for complains the previous years... But how do we feel as environmentalists? Research show that the animals are very well taken care of in Antibes and actually some of them have not yet seen the big wild ocean as they were born in captivity. Still (or even more?), it is hard to accept and I could not watch the orca show any longer than a minute. But I also did see kids growing to being full keepers of the ocean because they had fallen in love with a dolphin in such a place, whilst they never had a chance to approach them in the wild -we divers tend to forget that we are a privileged minority in that respect... So, as much as it hurts to admit it, the (sadly) captive animals do play a positive role as ambassadors of their species, which should not be neglected! Bottom line? All those I talked to are happy that the show could go on. And the most forceful environmentalists do agree in the end that what bothers them most is the image conveyed by the shows at Marineland (sharks and orcas as killers...) while they make such big money out of them! So, maybe it could prove interesting in the future to conceive such places as governmental rather than commercial projects: they could play an educational and environmental role, while portraying the animals as what they are and spreading the good word about ocean conservancy... And if any money was to be made, it could be channeled into conservation! Ands in the meantime, if the Festival has no other choice but to take place at Marieneland next year again, at least we could hope to see a better synergy between the two exhibits: in the end, don't they both allow the visitors to dream about the ocean? Wishful thinking it may be. And there will always be people against it. But why not make something positive out of the negative? I do prey for the freedom of every single living creature, but I also believe in the positive role of the ambassadors... Looking forward to reading further thoughts! phil
Posted by wetpixelphil on 2007-11-04 03:39:33 Thank you both! The fires here have been mostly contained, and people really pulled together. But there has been substantial loss of habitat, the long-term effects not yet known. It was a great respite to travel to Antibes. The absolute best part of the whole festival for me was getting to visit with the Wetpixel folks. Jules, I can't wait to see more of the video--thank you for documenting the event! I also hope that any discussion of the venue controversy will be respectful of the diversity of opinions--it's a complex subject and one that warrants onging consideration. Mary Lynn
Posted by Mary Lynn on 2007-10-31 19:13:00 Dear Mary, thanks for the speedy post, now I can concentrate my efforts to edit the video... I hope I can finish it in the very near future and share with you and with all friends I met there. Jules
Posted by Jules (Helioxfilm) on 2007-10-31 16:14:56 Hi Mary, Thanks for the write up and the work to show this years festival. It was also a blast to meet up with you guys. I can only hope, and I am sure I speak for many here, that your return to San Diego was a smooth one without too many issues arising from the recent events of destruction there. For me the whole issue of Marine Parks or Captive Breeding Facilities points to a very contentious issue. If people do decide to discuss it I hope they can do so with an air of professionalism and appreciation for the opinions of others. Regards again and hope all is well. Cheers, Mark.
Posted by CamDiver on 2007-10-31 14:36:03