Now in its fourth year, the Oceanic Global Short Film Festival has grown from a single event into an international movement spanning 11 countries. This year’s edition, Films That Awaken New Depths, brings together short films exploring our relationship with the ocean—from discovery and coexistence to urgent reflections on what stands to be lost. Curated by a jury including Dr. Sylvia Earle, James Honeyborne, David Maisel, Dr. Cliff Kapono, and Xiye Bastida, the films draw audiences beneath the surface into narratives that are both deeply personal and globally resonant.
Throughout World Oceans Month and into summer, Design Hotels member properties across four continents will host screenings of the award-winning films—transforming hotels into spaces for reflection, conversation, and connection. Spanning coastlines, cities, forests, and islands, the series draws on the diversity of our global portfolio while bringing communities together through the power of storytelling.
Guests will gather against the rugged Atlantic backdrop of Memmo Baleeira, along the Greek shores of Phāea Cretan Malia, Ekies All Senses Resort, Istoria, and Parīlio, beneath the jungle canopy at Papaya Playa Project and Hotel Belmar, and overlooking the Caribbean waters surrounding Laluna Boutique Hotel & Villas and Rabot Hotel from Hotel Chocolat. Elsewhere, the films will take on new resonance in the mindful urban retreats of Inhabit, across the American landscape at Timber Cove Resort and Hotel Kinsley, and in the meditative landscapes surrounding Setouchi Retreat by Onko Chishin in Japan—among a growing constellation of member properties around the world.
Setouchi Retreat by Onko Chishin, Matsuyama, Japan
The Oceanic Global Short Film Festival exists at this intersection, where art meets urgency and storytelling becomes a catalyst for change. Under the theme “Films That Awaken New Depths”, the 2026 edition reaches new audiences worldwide, bringing powerful ocean narratives from major cities to the communities where culture is shaped.
Just as only a fraction of the ocean’s depths has been explored, the films invite audiences deeper—revealing emotional, cultural, and ecological connections across three thematic categories: Human Connection, Discovery, and Living Systems. Winners of each category, along with the Grand Jury Prize, will be announced on June 9, 2026.
Location Tulum, Mexico
Date June 4, 11, 18, 25
Location Sagres, Algarve, Portugal
Date June 6
Location Matsuyama, Japan
Date June 13, 14, 20, 21, 27
Location Monteverde, Costa Rica
Date June 12, 26
Location Crete, Greece
Date June 18
Location Vourvourou, Chalkidiki, Greece
Date June 26, 29
Location Jenner, California, USA
Date July 5-July 9
Location Healdsburg, CA, USA
Date August 9
Location Kingston NY USA
Date August 21-August 23
Location Ekas Bay, Indonesia
Date August 22
Location London, United Kingdom
Date September 3
Location Soufriere, Saint Lucia
Date September 16
Location St George's, Grenada
Date November 19
Location Paros, Greece
Date Coming Soon
Location Santorini, Greece
Date Coming Soon
Under the theme Films That Awaken New Depths, this year's four winners span the Grand Jury Prize and three category awards—Human Connection, Discovery, and Living Systems—moving from the coastline of West Africa to the cold waters of Greenland, from the wildness of the Atlantic salmon run to the sacred shores of the Pacific. Each was chosen for the depth of feeling it generates and the questions it leaves behind. These are the stories that will screen at member properties from Sagres to Santorini, Tulum to the Seto Inland Sea—each one capable of changing the way an audience sees the ocean, and their place within it.
Overall Winner Open Water Grand Jury Prize
Category Films That Awaken New Depths
Filmmaker David Clancy
Country France
This story follows Pape and Seydi, two young men in Dakar, Senegal who find purpose and community in the ocean, choosing a different path than the perilous journeys many of their peers take in search of opportunity abroad. The title comes from a Wolof phrase—"what we share belongs to all of us"—an idea that shapes both the spirit of the film and the way the story unfolds.
Category Human Connection
Filmmaker Karni Arieli and Saul Freed
Country United Kingdom
A natural history fantasy that chronicles the dramatic life cycle of wild salmon, portrayed in human form. Through imagery and narration by the late Marianne Faithfull, the film follows the salmon's epic journey from freshwater birth to oceanic adulthood and back to its origins, intertwining myth and nature.
David Clancy
Category Discovery
Filmmaker Alexander Benedik
Country Greenland
Freediver Anna von Boetticher descends beneath Greenland's ice—where extreme risk meets fleeting, spectacular beauty. Arctic conditions demand experience to manage danger and the mental strength to face the problems that inevitably arise. The reward is a glimpse of a world accessible only for a moment, and gone by summer, melted into the sea.
Category Living Systems
Filmmaker Carter Kirilenko, Phoebe Montague Warr
Country Tonga
This story follows Aunofu, a Tongan voyager, as he shares an urgent truth: despite their majesty, humpback whales face mounting pressures in their ancestral waters. The film is both a tribute to cultural stewardship and a call to protect one of the ocean's most iconic species.
Oceanic Global reminds us of humanity’s original role in Earth’s broader ecosystems and guides us in restoring equilibrium to our blue planet. The 501c3 non-profit deepens humanity’s connection to the Ocean as the lifeblood of the Earth, provides tangible solutions for resilience, and creates a blueprint for coexisting in harmony with our natural world.
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