— Save the Date —
June 30th, 2022
Let’s meet in person live in Bremen

Our 2021 festival has concluded

For our 2021 ICRS filmfestival we partnered with the 14th International Coral Reef Symposium, the largest conference for coral scientists. As the most vibrant part of our oceans, coral reefs are beautiful and, for a lack of a better word, magical places. But they are also home to an uncountable number of living and feeling organisms and the backbone for feeding more than 1 billion humans. As the hardest hit ecosystem by human destruction they are in deep crisis and likely to go extinct within our lifetime – unless we do not find solutions. Fast.

This makes the ICRS an event that was never more important. We want to bring attention to all the scientists working hard by inviting you to our festival, a night full of thought-provoking movies and lively discussions.

Watch (most of) our 2021 program’s videos on this page onine now and join us for the live event in 2022

Festival Playlist

Here you can find all films that we have shown during the festival and that are now available on YouTube or Vimeo.

Welcome from

Andrea Gerhard – Moderation of the evening
Prof. Dr. Christian Wild – University of Bremen

Opening

Frederik Götz, Ambassador for DEEPWAVE

The Coral Guardian

When a drowned deep-sea diver is given another chance at life, he discovers a new home. A compelling story about the changing underwater world and the precarious connection between man and nature.

Director David I. Dinçer

10:45 min

Bahari Salama

Is it still possible to find an alternative to intensive exploitation of marine resources? In Zanzibar, the local fishing community of Jambiani is trying to preserve the biodiversity of the ocean’s fauna. Bahari Salama is a doc film co-financed by donors and through a crowdfunding campaign, which will show how it is possible to find an alternative route to the intensive exploitation of our seas – through projects that protect both the environment and the local economies of fishing populations.

Directors Darim Alessandro Da Prato, Fabrizio Del Dotto

25 min

Ein kleiner Plastikdelfin wird in einem Wust aus Geisternetzen am Strand angeschwemmt.

Interview — Making Of The Coral Guardian

We’re starting with a short video about Making Of The Coral Guardian. With a lot of discipline, work, dedication, creativity, and cohesion, David I. Dinçer and his team have created a movie shot entirely underwater. We would love to hear how they did it, so we are inviting David and diver Andreas Häckler to answer your and our questions.

20 min

Screen Break – 15 minutes

Marine Biologist reflects on 2019

Madeline St. Clair Baker presents her own personal reflection on 2019 and how working as a marine biologist impacted her physically and emotionally. Underpinned by powerful images of her travels, both of the beauty of nature and its destruction by human hands, she presents her personal journey and emotional world – marked by ambivalent feelings of hope and hopelessness, confidence and despair, joy and sadness.

Director Madeline St. Clair Baker

10:53 min

Facing Water

The protagonist of this film, Amit, discovers the sea in a diving course and falls in love – with the water itself, the quiet, the calmness, and nature overall. This film was made in memory of Amit Yeori and is based on a poem by Zelda. The film is a part of the project “A Face. The Day. A Memorial.” by the Avi Chai Foundation.

Director Daphna Awadish

2:54 min

Reef Revolution

An undocumented reef, 11 kilometers offshore of Pātea in New Zealand, has captured the curiosity and passion of a dedicated team and their local community. Follow in this sentimental journey as a younger generation joins the team of “Project Reef Life” and in turn surprises an older generation about life in their local ocean. Featuring interviews with Karen (Joint Project Lead), Josh (Marine scientist), and Oliver (Student).

Director Rebecca Pratt

8:53 min

MY 25: The ocean between us

Switching between memories and reality, this film tells an intimate story of how our oceans have changed in just 25 years of the lifetime of young director Inka Cresswell. She set out to show the power of marine protected areas. From traditional fishing practices to state-of-the-art wet labs and coral restoration work, she demonstrates how there is still time to change the fate of our oceans. In the fight to conserve our oceans, she shows the importance of learning from different cultures and generations.

Director Inka Cresswell

15 min

Great White Sharks

Learn a lot about the great white shark from the perspective of the 10-year-old director Lakan Duskin, who has perfected the use of Lego and skillfully used his artwork in an animation film. It calls to action in order to protect the important and amazing predator – an entertaining short film for everyone.

Director Lakan Duskin

3:22 min

Panel Discussion — Women in science and filmmaking

Inka Cresswell (MY 25: The ocean between us)
Rebecca Pratt (Reef Revolution)
Andrea Gerhard, Moderation

We see each other in Bremen 2022!