Maspalomas will host the closing event for Volume 9 of Europe's largest and most important ocean film festival, the International Ocean Film Tour, which will conclude its national tour on the island with a unique event. Outdoors, on a giant 14,5 by 8 meter screen in Parque Sur, the festival will bid farewell to this edition with a single, exclusive screening focused on civic activism this Saturday, November 18th at 19 pm.
The International Ocean Film Tour Volume 9 includes six short films from seven countries across three of the five continents, featuring documentaries from Australia, Germany, Tonga, Lebanon, Poland, England, and Spain. These films, titled 'The Power of Activism,' 'No Limits,' 'George & the Whales,' 'Sweet Adventure,' 'Facing Monsters,' and 'Stolen Fish,' offer an international perspective. Following the headline film, Maspalomas will host a grand finale featuring Juan Carlos García, a science communicator, marine scientist, and social media content creator known as jc.oceans. García boasts over 107.000 Instagram followers and more than one million followers across all his digital profiles.
With a Master's degree in Oceanography from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and a civic activist, his commitment to marine conservation has led him to participate in several large-scale national and European projects, as well as to give lectures at global events. Ocean lovers visiting the Maspalomas South Park will have the opportunity to explore remote and wild corners of the ocean, which he has explored in his marine outreach work. He will also introduce thousands of attendees to the world of civic activism , a key element in protecting marine life along the Canary Islands' coasts.
The festival, which this year features six documentaries, will be screened at Parque Sur, marking its debut in the south of the island. With documentaries from Australia, Germany, Tonga, Lebanon, Poland, England, and Spain , the proceeds from tickets, now available through the Kinema Producciones website, will be donated to a local NGO for coastal and ocean cleanup and awareness projects.
Presented in its original version with Spanish subtitles, the festival concludes a tour of 12 Spanish cities throughout this year and some 270 events held in 18 countries worldwide. Featuring the wildest and most unexplored seas, and six true stories told in the first person, the International Ocean Film Tour seeks to explore love, respect, and protection for the environment, addressing current issues reflected in the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for a Circular Economy, promoting a more just and sustainable society, true equality, inclusion, fair reintegration, the fight against poverty, water management, sustainable cities, and the creation of partnerships, among other topics.
THE FESTIVAL APPROACHES MORE THAN 200 YOUNG PEOPLE
The International Ocean Film Tour volume 9 is more than a festival, bringing its message closer to the new generations with a whole series of educational actions in the south of the island. The message of awareness, defense, and protection of the oceans has reached more than 200 young people from the municipality, in an environmental dissemination activity prior to the premiere held at the Maspalomas House of Culture on November 9.
Under the theme “Science and Activism”, Dr. Alicia Herrera Ulibarri and member of the Latitud Azul Environmental Association (experts and researchers from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) the boys and girls from the educational centers of San Bartolomé de Tirajana have talked about the importance of involvement from all areas for the care and protection of the environment.
This action is part of the challenge of disseminating and raising awareness that the International Ocean Film Tour has taken on, which has included a series of talks, workshops and activities with young people from the municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana. This is the goal that the festival has set, which has established itself in the Canary Islands after several years giving talks in secondary schools. These activities are enriching for them, ambassadors of a more sustainable future, who thus have the possibility of learning about reality with top-level speakers and collaborators.
Addressing Climate Change from a multidisciplinary and close vision, young people can actively reflect on how it directly affects Gran Canaria and how the attitude of each person can be decisive. These talks and workshops seek a collective inquiry based on what they already know, to be complemented with what science predicts, on the decisions that improve or worsen the problem to propose a common reflection to incorporate into daily life.
This festival, originally from Germany, through the German production company Moving Adventures GmbH, is promoted and distributed in Spain by Kinema Producciones SL, with the sponsorship of the San Bartolomé de Tirajana City Council, Maspalomas Costa Canaria and the collaboration of Top Time Eventos, Sonocom Audiovisuales, Sea Shepherd Spain, the specialized magazine AQUA and several environmental dissemination associations such as Latitud Azul, European Environment and Oceans4lifegc.
