"The Cove", now available on DVD

**Jdarg** · 12-09-2009, 07:10 PM

We were recently lucky enough to see this important film brought in by the Torchlight Film Series. The people that did see it were amazed. If you missed it, I urge you to watch it, as it is one of the best documentaries I have ever seen, and up for the Oscar for Best Documentary. Even cooler, Louis Psihoyos was here and we were able to talk to him about the making of this film and the ongoing work of the Oceanic Preservation Society. Google this guy- we had a real celebrity in our town for a couple of days.

"The Cove" deals with several issues that arise from dolphins in captivity, from the horrors of how they are caught, to the mercury poisoning of the meat of those needlessly slaughtered and served to innocent people, and the coverup by the Japanese of the whole industry. We had no idea about Taiji, Japan and the horrors that were happening there every fall, and I bet most of you don't either. It will make you re-think the concept of "Flipper"....

Oceanic Preservation Society - Home link to the movie is on the OPS site

I also subscribe to a newsletter, and this update was in my inbox today.

Greetings,

Laurie David, who produced An Inconvenient Truth, told me after we won last year�s Sundance Film Festival that when you are done making a documentary you are only halfway there. I thought initially that the statement was a kind of half-truth that maybe was more hyperbole than fact. This weekend my wife Viki and I found ourselves back at Park City, Utah where Sundance is held. We were premiering a DVD extra called �Mercury Rising� at the same theater where we played nearly a year ago a year before (The DVD came out yesterday for anyone wanting a stocking stuffer: http://www.thecovemovie.com/buy_the_dvd.htm). Bobby Kennedy, Jr and I did a Q&A and then did a Facebook chat with some 38,000 people. I think I would tell any new documentary director that the film does indeed only begin when the film is finished, but then, at least for The Cove, the ride has only gotten better. It has been a wonderful wild year, and as The Cove racks up accolades I know that awards are the collateral in trying to solve the issue. And I believe this movie will eventually end the cove as a hideout of one of the biggest crimes against nature and humanity.
We�ve always thought that to accomplish the goal of shutting down the cove, we would have to create what is known as �gaitsu,� which is outside pressure to create inside pressure for change. That seems to be working. There are two distributors in Japan bidding for the rights to show the film and we hope to make that announcement within the week. Because of pressure from The Cove, Japanese health authorities have required that all Taiji residents be tested for mercury poisoning and the results of the first 1000 people are even more shocking than we imagined. Many residents have Minamata levels of mercury in their systems and the town average in 10x higher than the base level of mercury of the Japanese population. The Japanese media blackout of dolphin and mercury issues has ended since Ric and I began our trips to Japan this past year-- The Cove received far more media attention at the Tokyo International Film Festival than James Cameron�s Avatar. Pods of bottlenose and common dolphins have been released at the cove but unfortunately they are still killing pilot whales and Rissos, which are true dolphins and the most toxic of the species.
So there is much more work to do but I�m heartened by our progress and I have faith that after our television run, where as many as 500,000,000 people may see The Cove, the sheer number of people knowing about the issue will cause the Japanese government to shut the cove down. Film can be $10 and a box of popcorn, or it can be the most powerful weapon in the world, a weapon of mass construction, and a way to reorganize the hearts and minds of a species when we fall off the path of what it means to be human. The Cove has activated hundreds of thousands of people to not just save dolphins, but to get involved solving other ocean issues like overfishing, eating healthier seafood and getting America onto cleaner energy to create cleaner oceans. Margaret Meads once said, �A few thoughtful people can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.�

From all us at OPS, thank you Seaside for supporting our mission at OPS and giving us the opportunity to share our film.

Have a great New Year Seaside,

Louie Psihoyos

Oceanic Preservation Society
Louie Psihoyos
443 Juniper Ave.
Boulder, CO.
80304
tele: 303-443-3409
fax: 303-545-9938