The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation’s film, Discover Wonder: The Octopus Garden, was honored with the Shorts Award as the best short film at the 18th Annual International Ocean Film Festival.
The 9-minute film follows a team of scientists to the depths of NOAA’s Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary to view one of the rarest and deepest octopus brooding colonies on the planet, which was discovered by researchers on the Ocean Exploration Trust’s E/V Nautilus.
The film, along with the rest of the winners and entrants, can be viewed as part of the International Ocean Film Festival from April 15 to May 2.
Discover Wonder: The Octopus Garden was written, directed and edited by John Dutton; produced by the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation; narrated by MBNMS Research Ecologist Chad King, and funded by the Tides Foundation. The film was also supported by NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.
This film is a remarkable, mind-expanding adventure that journeys with a team of scientists from the decks of high-tech exploration vessels to the dark and uncharted depths of Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Their mission: to collect crucial data from one of the rarest and deepest fertile octopus brooding colonies on the planet.
Encounters with otherworldly marine life that inhabit the most extreme and fragile environments imaginable is a reminder of how much of the ocean remains unexplored and a cue for us to ensure the wonders of the deep are protected.