For filmmaker Rob Stewart, exploring sharks began as an underwater adventure. What it turned into was a beautiful and dangerous life journey into the balance of life on earth.
Driven by passion fed from a lifelong fascination with sharks, Stewart debunks historical stereotypes and media depictions of sharks as bloodthirsty, man-eating monsters and reveals the reality of sharks as pillars in the evolution of the seas.
Filmed in visually stunning, high definition video, Sharkwater takes viewers into the most shark rich waters of the world, exposing the exploitation and corruption surrounding the world's shark populations in the marine reserves of Cocos Island, Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.
In addition to this spectacular film, the DVD and Blu-Ray contain extra content including the featurette "Sharkwater: Beneath the Surface"; the theatrical trailer; "Shark Defense (Vintage Naval Training Video)" (DVD Only); TV Spots (DVD Only); the featurette "The Making of Sharkwater" (Blu-Ray only); and interview with filmmaker Rob Stewart (Blu-Ray only).
Since its release earlier this year, Sharkwater has received 26 awards from international film societies who have labeled it one of the years finest. Sharkwater is now available in both Blu-Ray and DVD formats through Warner Home Video at the film's official site at www.Sharkwater.com , as well as retail outlets.
Rob Stewart, the man whose devotion to nature led him on this harrowing international journey, took a few minutes to talk to Monsters and Critics about his experiences in the four year process of making the documentary.
M&C:
Stewart:
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Stewart:
I started taking pictures underwater when I was 13 and just sort of figured, somebody needed to be an underwater photographer so why not me? So I grabbed that with everything ahead.
The whole idea for the movie came from when I took photos at the Galapagos Islands and found 200 dead sharks on 100 km of beach and that's what made me realize that sharks, in all their majesty, are being killed and nobody knew about it. They are all afraid of them. And so I thought if I made a movie, maybe I could get people to think about the sharks.
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Stewart:
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Stewart:
When a species is destroyed it can have a real effect on the world that we live in. It's not whether sharks are going to be okay, because they've been here for thousands of years. They are going to be fine. It's about this young species it's only been here 100,000 years.
People feel sort of removed from the situation, but if they knew the conservation was not just about saving trees anymore but rather about saving people, I think they would have a very different approach to.
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Stewart:
The whole thing weighs almost 200 pounds, and when you go underwater all of the light is filtered out: orange, yellow, green and blue. And when you get far enough under water there is no other color but blue, and so you get those colors back by adding natural lighting underwater.
Also, we filmed the movie in over 15 different countries over 4 1/2 years and we had a lot of technical roadblocks and a lot of pitfalls.
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Stewart:
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Stewart:
There's very rarely any sort of consciousness around it, but there has been some controversy involving the finning of sharks, and so people are tired of hiding that part of it and they don't want others to know that they're taking part in it. But most people don't know a thing about it. They don't hear the science behind it.
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Stewart:
Sharks are actually very endangered as well being that there are over 500 species, but not having them on those lists is a big deal. We need public awareness most so that the government recognizes what people want and there is some sort of public pressure.
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Stewart:
I was just at an event last night in New York with a group of people called “sharksavers” started by someone who saw the film and was moved enough by it to start their own conservation group around it.
The biggest thing for a film is to be release on DVD. The theatrical release is really one big marketing push, and so more people will see it when it hits on DVD. I'm waiting for that.
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Stewart:
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Stewart:
If we can bring people into a new relationship and understanding of sharks by showing them animals in captivity, then that's a good thing.
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Stewart:
But if I went back I would've ended up returning the cameras, which were really expensive, and then I never would've gotten the cameras again. So my first real shot at trying to do good would have been a failure. And so the potential that getting this information out could push humanity to do more about this situation made it worth it.
There was also a point where I was $300,000 in debt, had West Nile virus, dengue Fever and tuberculosis all at the same time and I had no partner on the movie. No broadcaster, no nothing. No friends that knew about it or had any idea about how to put a film together.
And I was sending the film to all these places around the world trying to come on and fund part of it, or anything, and I got turned down by everybody. I actually quit working on it and started work on another film in Australia to get out of the funk, and I was doing that for about a year.
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Stewart:
EricJan 23rd, 2009 - 14:26:45
I'm with you Rob. We have far too long let our fears of sharks be the plight of our arrogance. During your film, I gritted my teeth, held my head, my breathing got heavy, I was getting increasingly pissed and disgusted with the human race. Soon after, I got online and pulled up a local restaurant review site and gave a 1 star review of all places supporting the shark fining industry by serving shark's fin soup. I can only hope that this protest catches on, soon. I've also signed the petition for a global ban on shark fining. Perhaps someday I will join green peace for an exhibition against these ignorant barbarians.
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