(DiverWire) Shipwrecks! Sharks! Whales! For 43 years, the Our World-Underwater Dive & Travel Expo, the largest dive show in the Midwest, has produced some of the finest scuba diving based film festivals in the country and this year will be no exception. Over the years, the OW-U film festivals have grown from a few divers sitting around a hotel meeting room showing each other their past season to a two-day affair featuring award winning shooters from across the country and Europe.
The 2013 Friday Evening Film Festival will focus mainly on wreck diving and fresh water. Famed shipwreck hunter David Trotter will debut his new video Vanishing Points, which focuses on three recently discovered Great Lakes’ shipwrecks. David has discovered over 80 shipwrecks and surveyed thousands of square miles of lake bottom. Additionally the search and discovery of the Westmoreland, a Great Lake cargo ship carrying gold and whiskey, which had eluded shipwreck hunters for over 150 years, will be presented for all to see by another Michigan wreck diver Ross Richardson. Many people do not know that in 1913 a hurricane like/’Perfect Storm’ hit the Great Lakes sinking 19 ships, stranding 19 others and killing over 250 people. Husband and wife videographers Jim & Pat Stayer will tell the story and local favorite Valerie van Heest will run her haunting video about the many famous shipwrecks still missing and undiscovered. The Friday Film Festival will also include a saltwater piece from Clive Cussler associate Ralph Wilbanks. Ralph will detail how they searched, discovered and recovered the Civil War submarine H.L. Hunley.
In the past, OW-U’s Saturday Evening Film Festival has been the highlight of the weekend and this year promises not to be different. The plan is that over 1,000 diving enthusiasts will listen to emcee Paul Cater Deaton, an award-winning writer, producer, and director in his own right, direct the festivities. Paul will debut his new video Fins of the Master about famed underwater explorer Stan Waterman as he encountered great white sharks off the Island of Guadalupe. Legacy – The words of Peter Benchley by shark divers Bill Fisher and Joe Romerio will also focus the audience’s attention on sharks. Another debut airing will come from pioneering underwater explorer and filmmaker Jill Heinerth. Jill will debut her new video We Are Water. Jill will also be accepting our 2013 Outstanding Achievement Award not just for her Hollywood work with the likes of James Cameron but for her never ending efforts to explore and preserve our underwater environment.
Saturday’s Film Festival will also feature the work of previous OW-U award winner, re-known photographer Ernie Brooks will astound the audience with his still images and internationally acclaimed filmmaker Leandro Blanco will feature his provocative piece, The Beast is Dead. Saturday’s film fest will also feature the work of husband and wife team Danielle Alary and Michel Gilbert. They will premiere their new work It Takes a Dream about how Captain Cousteau inspired a young boy’s life and a funny piece called Wink. Hall of Fame scuba instructor Nancy McGee has created a special film for OW-U entitled Forgotten Islands 2 and Richard Morris will amaze us all with Alien Banquet.
All in all the 2013 Our World-Underwater Film Festivals will be spectacular and should not be missed.
