Collective Film Festival: Albatross

Join Waiheke Collective for its second Film Festival, a captivating showcase of thought-provoking and impactful films dedicated to raising awareness about environmental and social issues.

Doors open 4:00 PM | Film Starts at 4:30 PM

Host: Waiheke Marine Project

About the Film: Albatross

ALBATROSS is a powerful visual journey into the heart of an astonishingly symbolic environmental tragedy. On one of the remotest islands on our planet, tens of thousands of baby albatrosses lie dead on the ground, their bodies filled with plastic.

Albatross is a documentary film that has stood the test of time; while it is now over a decade old, the message remains relevant to all of us. A painfully beautiful cinematic experience that transports viewers to Midway Atoll in the Northwest Pacific, we come up close and personal with the colonies of Albatross who dwell on these remote islands, bearing witness to just how far the impact that mass consumption of plastic waste in the modern era reaches. The film highlights the ways in which we, as a species, have broken our sacred relationship with Earth and all of the other beings we share this planet with. Conversely, it also acts as a sacred reminder of how we can also mend the web of life if we all come together and commit to small actions at home, every day. 

Special guest speaker:

The Waiheke Marine Project is honoured to host a screening with special guest, Charlie Thomas.

Charlie is a young conservationist (and recent Waihekean) who spent 9 months on Kure Atoll (close to Midway) in 2020, working with Albatross. Together, with the WMP, Charlie will share some of his experiences on Kure with the albatross, including some of the ways in which he has personally reckoned with plastic pollution through art and conservation action. Together, we will focus on bringing stories from afar back to our little motu in the Hauraki Gulf, shining a light on plastic pollution within the web of life right here in Tīkapa Moana as well.

The film event will double as an evening to share with the Waiheke community the resources we have available to engage in ongoing beach cleans, learn about our local ecosystems and the seabirds who dwell in Tīkapa Moana and the ongoing issue of microplastics in our marine and terrestrial ecosystems.