Considering the current state of our economy and society, grocery stores, hospitals, and law enforcement are completely essential. There is no doubt about that. However, with its line-up of powerful films that bravely take on important themes, this year’s Victoria Film Festival (VFF) successfully establishes just how essential movies are to us in 2021.
One of the films screening at the VFF this year that expertly conveys an important theme is Andrew Nisker’s powerful documentary Coral Ghosts. The documentary chronicles the life of marine biologist Tom Goreau, who is part of the third generation of his family on a mission to raise awareness about the impact of climate change on the planet’s collapsing ocean coral reefs (Goreau’s grandfather was noted photographer Fritz Goro). Coral Ghosts is a beautifully shot, well-made movie that highlights how concerning climate change is and further cements how essential filmmaking is. It does all this by going through the family’s archives of photographs and revisiting the sites they were originally taken at.
“We try to give the world a view of how much the coral ecosystem has changed over the past 70 years,” says Nisker.
Nisker says that making the film was a big challenge, right down to figuring out what it was even actually about.
“Is it about archives? Is it about coral science? Or is it about Tom Goreau, the main character of our film, coming to grips with his life?” says Nisker. “Because he’s 70 years old and he’s reached a point now where he’s thinking about his legacy and sort of thinking about what he’s going to do with these photos—how is he going to preserve them? How is he going to pass them down and get that information out there? Because some of them are just absolutely incredible and have historical value. It was really hard to choose between all three, and we basically decided we’re going to actually make a film about all three.”
When Nisker revisited some of the old spots that Goro had taken photos of to compare and contrast with how the spots look today, what he found wasn’t always too uplifting.
“As you can imagine, in most circumstances and situations, these environments were degraded tremendously,” he says. “What we have in photographs and what we saw was tragic, seeing the difference.”
Making the movie was a chance for Nisker to discuss a subject he feels very strongly about: climate change.
“It’s pretty clear I’m very much passionate about talking about climate change,” he says, “and I’m passionate about getting people engaged in the topic of climate change.”
Nisker says that making Coral Ghosts was not an easy commitment, but for him, it’s all a part of what he does to try to make a difference.
“It’s really important when making a film like this to get people emotionally engaged and attached and invested in the story so that not only they watch it, but they tell their friends to watch it, and they also think about it and try and help where they can, even if they don’t live near the ocean,” he says. “The bottom line for me for making all my films is I want to make a difference, and making this film I felt like there was a tremendous opportunity to make a difference and tell Tom’s story.”
Victoria Film Festival
Various times, February 5 to 14
Various prices
victoriafilmfestival.com