Battle to save reef heats up
CHASING Coral, a film billed as a “war room” for activism, is the latest salvo in a campaign to save the reef.
Climate change activists plan to use the film’s breathtaking but emotional imagery to build global support to #makewaves.
Filmmaker Jeff Orlowski who directed Chasing Ice (2012) — about the rate of Artic ice sheet melt — spent three years filming the world’s coral reefs off 30 countries to capture the dramatic impact of coral bleaching.
The Sundance Film Festival winner, due to be released in Australia in July, culminates in footage of the Great Barrier Reef, described as the “Manhattan of the ocean, which last year suffered 22 per cent mortality from coral bleaching.
It won rave reviews overseas as “a powerful wake-up call”, “an emotional race against time” and a “landmark film for activism’’.
Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and 100 diplomats and staff will this week visit Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef to witness first-hand the living wonder to generate international publicity about the 2300km-long system.
“Its continuing attractiveness as a tourist destination and the advanced state of Australian research,’’ said the Foreign Minister’s spokesman.
The Canberra-based diplomatic corps will also meet with the members of the newly formed Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, which will also be launched in July.