Flipp director Jem Cresswell’s ‘Eyre & Sea’ wins its sixth official film festival selection 

Jem Cresswell’s short documentary, Eyre & Sea, has captured world attention, chosen to screen at several short and international film festivals. As well as wowing reviewers throughout the world, Eyre & Sea has now also received the honour of being selected for the Ocean Film Festival World Tour 2022.

 

Cresswell, a Flipp commercial photographer, director and underwater specialist is also a passionate observer of the natural world. The film is not his story, but it could be. Through the voice of an eco-tour operator and his relationship with a colony of sea lions it asks humans to care better for the planet they live in.

This is the sixth commendation Cresswell has received for the film. It has also been included in the official selections of the San Diego International Film Festival, Toronto Independent Film Festival, Paris Short Film Festival, Lonely Seal International Film, Screenplay and Music Festival and Nature Without Borders International Film Festival. It follows world recognition for his hard cover book, Giants, which features portraits of Cresswell’s long-term project documenting the Southern Hemisphere Humpback Whale and was published last year.

In Eyre & Sea, the main characters include the curious and playful members of an endangered sea lion family and a human who lives in a remote part of Australia on the edge of the Great Australian Bight, in a town with a population of three. The bit players are the tourists who join Alan Payne’s tours. For most of them, spending time with dolphins and sea lions is something to do. For Payne, it’s a relationship. It’s friendship. The backdrop is the coastline of Eyre Peninsula, powerful, rugged and dramatically beautiful. All of this is woven into film whose ultimate message is that the Australian sea lion is in need and we should do something about it.

Says Payne: “We’re all in this together, the whole lot of us, the wildlife. We’re wildlife as well. You need to make space, you need to care, you need to look after your neighbour…It’s not all about taking.”

Says Joclyn McCahon, founder, Flipp: “It’s the honesty Jem has captured in Eyre & Sea that draws you in. The film opens the door wide, not just to Alan Payne’s world but also his heart. His bond with nature becomes your bond and you respond to the message. It’s a powerful asset for a storyteller to have.”

Cresswell’s love for capturing the world around him, and his flair for using nature as a stage where human emotions can be spotlit, have won work for brands that range from American Express and Qantas to Microsoft; from Huawei and Optus to Jurlique; from Carnival Cruises and P&O Cruises to Australian Super; from Destination NSW and South Australia Tourism to Lindt.

View Jem Cresswell’s portfolio here.

Director & Cinematographer: Jem Cresswell
2nd Camera Operator: Ewan Donnachie
Editor: Christopher Baron at The Hive Films
Colourist: Tim Wreyford
Post-Production Sound Service: Rumble Studios
Composers: Adam Moses & Jeremy Richmond
Sound Designer: Liam Annert
Sound & Music Executive Producer: Michael Gie

For screening times please see: www.eyreandsea.com