Monday, June 3rd, will be dedicated to the ocean, a central element in San Diego's lifestyle, featuring two environmental documentaries. “Humanatee”, (2023) a short film produced by Planet Froth Productions.
“Oceans” (2009) directed by Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud, co-produced by Galatee Films.
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The screenings will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by Clay Epstein, President of Film Mode Entertainment, alongside Oscar-winning producer Antoine de Cazotte, co-producer at Galatee Films of the movie Oceans, Ricky Rhodes (writer/director) & Jordan Henderson (producer/creative director) from Planet Froth Productions producers of Humanatee. Scientists Julie Dinasquet, Marine Biology Oceanographer, and Arnaud Le Boyer, Physical Oceanographer, will bring their expertise to the discussion.
Panel Discussion
Clay Epstein, President of Film Mode Entertainment, leads a renowned global sales and distribution company with a focus on supporting producers. With recent successes like "CRYPTO," "LITTLE PINK HOUSE," and "AS SICK AS THEY MADE US," Clay's expertise spans both executive producing and representing worldwide rights. Previously, as SVP Sales & Acquisitions at Arclight Films, he played a crucial role in acquiring notable titles like "DOG EAT DOG" and "PREDESTINATION." Clay's influence extends to his position as Chairman of the Independent Film and Television Alliance, alongside roles as an instructor at UCLA Extension and a respected lecturer at film festivals worldwide.
Antoine de Cazotte is a highly accomplished multilingual producer at Galatee films with a diverse background in international film and television, working in France, in the USA as well as in the Arctic, Africa and Asia. As the French Representative to the International Committee of the Producers Guild of America, Antoine de Cazotte actively fosters connections between industry professionals on both sides of the Atlantic, hosting events during prestigious festivals such as Cannes and Deauville in France. He was the executive producer on The Artist, which won five Oscars and many other honors, and co-producer of Oceans working closely with Jaques Perrin.
The Ocean is teeming with microscopic organisms, sentinels of our Planet’s health. As a marine biologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Julie Dinasquet seeks to better understand the feedback mechanisms between marine and atmospheric processes through the microbial lens. Her team uses various tools, including DNA analysis, to study ocean biodiversity and processes, from the tiniest microbes to the mightiest whales. By monitoring these organisms through programs such as Scripps' 75-year running CalCOFI and the CCE-LTER California monitoring programs, we seek to determine how climate change affects ocean ecosystem services.
Arnaud Le Boyer is a seagoing physical oceanographer and part of the Multiscale Ocean Dynamics group at Scripps Institution of Oceanography /UC San Diego. Using long-term velocity times series and turbulence measurements, he is tracking the energy transfers between internal waves, all the way down to the mechanisms leading to the dissipation of that energy. Understanding how this energy cascade adjusts to ever-changing energy sources (e.g., heat and wind) is crucial to understanding the fragile equilibrium of the ocean circulation and the climate are resting upon. To that end, he is leading the development of the Epsilometer, a microstructure profiler, and its integration into all sorts of platforms to follow the energy cascade.
Jordan Henderson is an award-winning and sought-after Producer, Director, and Editor. He owns and co-founded the Los Angeles-based Planet Froth Productions. This multinational production company strives to take on thought-provoking media projects that inspire communities to engage in activism. Jordan aims the spotlight on a variety of social issues through his work, namely, his social justice documentary Not Just Another Day, feminist short adaptation Yellow Wallpaper, and Humanatee short film, which has garnered enough recognition that the endeavor to save and protect the manatees is now being developed into a feature film. Most recently, Jordan returned from an expedition to Antarctica, where he directed the pilot to a series on traveling with purpose, intention, and adventure.
Ricky Rhodes is an LA local who grew up surfing and obsessed with films. He went to college for marine biology and then film production. Ricky's work has been featured in publications such as Voyage, Nowness, and Forbes. His social justice short film Not Just Another Day, about racial disparities of cannabis possession arrests, won multiple awards for Best Documentary at festivals in 2021. Ricky's narrative short film Yellow Wallpaper, based on the feminist short story from the 1890s, premiered at the Oscar and Bafta qualifying LA Shortsfest in July 2023. His nature documentary short Humanatee premiered at the United Nations - World Oceans Week in June 2023 and won the award for Best Documentary at the Coronado Island Film Festival. Ricky's latest project is a docuseries called Impossible Cleanups: Henderson Island. It's about Simon Bernard, the charismatic inventor and co-founder of Plastic Odyssey, who led a team of 13 explorers, scientists, seafarers, and filmmakers to an uninhabited jungle island in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean to take on the impossible cleanup.