I have always found storytelling fascinating. 

A person’s ability to transport you somewhere else, immerse you into an entirely different world, without you even realising what has happened. Technically, really powerful storytelling is a type of illusion, which is also why you also have to be so careful in how you use it. 

For me, although one of my favourite things in life is being out in the field as a scientist, I also love sharing the stories that nature and science have to offer. I am definitely not a professional filmmaker, but over the years I have loved making short and feature length films about the whale research that I have been part of. This love for finding stories and video editing, made their humble beginnings when my high school friends and I would make music videos to pre-existing songs. They were primarily to Taylor Swift songs, and they were awesome. 

Nearly as much as I love creating my own work, I also love seeing others’. Short videos and documentaries can be incredibly powerful for sharing conservation messages and improving our connection to nature. It is critical that we keep sharing one another’s stories, and so I wondered if it would be possible to start up our own film festival. A few days later, I contacted Eva, director of the Húsavík Whale Museum, who has helped us A LOT with previous events, and asked if they would be interested in partnering up to create an ocean-themed film festival in Iceland. She immediately said yes, and from there we began planning all the logistics involved. 

We selected a name, made a logo, set up a Filmfreeway site for people to submit films and started sharing and promoting the event as much as possible. 

Since we began four years ago, every year has been an improvement – for both the quality of the films and number of people attending the festival. 

If you are interested in submitting to the Ocean Films Húsavík 2024 festival – you can do so now here! The deadline for 2024 submissions is March 1^st, 2024.

FILM CATEGORIES: 

• International (short and feature)
• Nordic (short and feature)
• Student 

FESTIVAL DATES: July 19^th – 20^th, 2024

Location TBD

If you have any questions about the festival, do not hesitate to reach out to info@whalewise.org 

A huge thank you to everyone who has shared their films this year and previous years – the festival would not be possible without you!