First Annual Savannah Ocean Film Festival
September 10-12, 2004

National Marine Sanctuary Foundation Trustee, renowned marine photographer, award-winning filmmaker and devoted conservationist Bob Talbot was a guest of honor at the first annual Savannah Ocean Film Festival, co-hosted by Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary and the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation. The festival was held at the Savannah College of Art and Design’s historic Trustees Theater and the Tybee Island Marine Science Center. The festival was the first of its kind in the Eastern United States. Over 1,500 people attended the free three-day festival. The purpose of the festival was to educate, inspire, entertain and foster a spirit of ocean stewardship through the screening of films that explore our relationship with the ocean.

Bob Talbot’s, Oceanmen - Extreme Dive and Dolphins & Orcas delighted the packed theatre of over six hundred film goers on opening night, September 10th. As Director of Talbot Productions, a multi-media production company, Talbot combines his philosophy and passion for the sea with cutting-edge, state-of-the-art entertainment technologies creating awareness of the ocean and its inhabitants. Talbot was on hand to make opening remarks and answer the audience’s questions about underwater photography and his two films after the screening.

Oceanmen - Extreme Dive, is the story of two world champion breathhold-divers and their attempt to dive deeper than anyone has ever dared on a single breath of air. Not just another extreme sport, breathhold-diving embodies a remarkable combination of human physical endurance, philosophy, human nature and cultural tradition. Talbot takes viewers up close in an astounding look at the sport’s two current undisputed heroes -- Pipin Ferreras and Umberto Pelizzari. The film, which was released to Giant screen theaters in spring 2001, has been critically acclaimed and won Public Prize at the 2002 La Geode Giant Screen Film Festival in Paris.

Dolphins & Orcas was released in 1993, the first film to be entirely produced, directed and filmed by Talbot. Shot over a period of six years, and painstakingly edited to the music of Mannheim Steamroller and Ray Lynch, the 30-minute fine art video became a tribute to the most enchanting creatures in the sea. Released through his own merchandising company, the video has sold over 100,000 copies worldwide.

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