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Gaviota: The End of Southern California
July 12, 2018 @ 7:00 am PDT
Screening and Q+A with Director Shaw Leonard and Phil McKenna, Gaviota Coast Conservancy Where: Santa Barbara Maritime Museum, 113 Harbor Way, Santa Barbara When: Thursday, July 12, 2018 at 7:00pm
SBMM Members Reception 6:15pm
Cost: $5 (SBMM Members) $15 (Non-members)
Register: www.sbmm.org or (805) 456-8747
Sponsored by: Marie L. Morrisroe
Gaviota: The End of Southern California is a 42-minute film that explores one of the most threatened biodiversity hotspots in the world. This film leads audiences from the ocean floor of the Santa Barbara Channel to the peaks of the jagged Santa Ynez Mountains. This wild journey crosses paths with breaching humpback whales, elusive white-tailed kites and nocturnal mountain lions. With nearly 90% of Southern California’s coast lost to development, the preservation of this coastline is the last bastion of hope for wildlife fighting to survive against a world closing in.
Facing the reality of mass extinction, California’s Gaviota coast is a startling reminder of what we have lost and what remains to be saved.
Filmed over the course of five years, Gaviota: The End of Southern California pushed the limits of the cinematographers’ bodies and equipment to capture the rare and intimate moments this ecosystem has to offer. They worked alongside scorching wild fires, under freezing storms, and in the face of howling winds. With backpack loads frequently weighing over 90 pounds, simply getting to many of the film’s locations proved challenging.
The cinematographers’ innovation and relentless persistence resulted in the documentation of over fifty unique wildlife species that are found on the Gaviota Coast.
Shaw Leonard has been a documentary photographer and filmmaker for 17 years. His work primarily focuses on social and environmental justice. He has premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (The Future of the Gaviota Coast, 2009 and A Womb with a View, 2012). Today he primarily focuses on wildlife cinematography and traditional black and white photography.