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
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 Discovery
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.
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