international ocean film tour gran canaria

International Ocean Film Tour lands in Gran Canaria

World Oceans Day celebration in Las Palmas

World Oceans Day will be celebrated in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria this Sunday with the Spanish premiere of Europe’s most important ocean film festival, the International Ocean Film Tour. On Sunday 7 June at 6pm at the Las Arenas Shopping Centre, the festival kicks off its tour of around twenty Spanish cities with five short films selected from thousands worldwide, and a very special guest: extreme athlete Antonio de la Rosa.

Meet the extreme athlete Antonio de la Rosa

The Spaniard, originally from Valladolid but based in Madrid, has travelled the world pushing his own limits with extreme challenges in some of the planet’s most hostile environments. He has a unique relationship with the sea, which for decades has been the central axis of his sporting, professional and personal life. De la Rosa will welcome ocean lovers to open the national tour of Europe’s largest ocean film festival, sharing his passion and his career, which represents an exceptional combination of navigation, self-sufficiency, exploration and physical and mental endurance.

Following the recent launch of his book, ‘Soy agua’ (‘I Am Water’), De la Rosa will offer a deeply human perspective on adventure, the ocean and the capacity for overcoming adversity. During the event, the public will be able to hear first-hand about the experiences, lessons and stories from more than three decades of expeditions around the world.

A career of extreme challenges

Among his most emblematic expeditions is the ‘Antarctic Challenge’, a historic crossing in which he rowed solo across the Southern Ocean towards Antarctica in one of the most radical adventures of his career. Facing the most extreme conditions on the planet, aboard a vessel barely seven metres long, De la Rosa crossed thousands of kilometres to face one of the world’s most dangerous seas, reviving one of the great feats of classic polar exploration that nobody had been able or willing to attempt since 1916. Total isolation and survival have been part of his life story, marked by other total challenges such as crossing the Pacific on a paddleboard or the route from Lanzarote to Morocco by kayak.

A firefighter by profession and a pioneer of adventure racing in Spain, Antonio de la Rosa began his sporting career in endurance and orienteering disciplines in the Canary Islands. He now returns with his biographical book ‘Soy agua’ to give the starting signal for a circuit that will tour the country with around twenty events and more than 300 destinations across Europe.

The film programme: five stories from four continents

This edition and its Volume 12 programme, which can be enjoyed as a premiere in the city of sea and cultures, will bring together ocean lovers with five stories from four continents. These are stories without actors, telling real experiences face to face, to strengthen the shared commitment to defending the oceans and all the life they contain.

In Volume 12, the International Ocean Film Tour arrives with the short film ‘Christa Funk: Passion for the Waves’ as its headline feature, bringing the story of one of the few professional female surf photographers at Pipeline. ‘The Last Dive’ accompanies Terry Kennedy in the waters of the uninhabited island of San Benedicto in Mexico, to reunite with Willy, a manta ray that has marked the last 40 years of his life. ‘A Different Beast’ immerses itself in the daily life of three brothers on an adventure to cross the Pacific Ocean by rowing, non-stop. This new edition of Europe’s number one ocean film festival will also ride the waves in ‘Up the Coast’, an adventure chasing the wind with kiteboarding legend Kevin Langeree and his team. Breaking all traditional dogmas, the Schwörer family invites deep reflection in ‘Home is the Ocean’ aboard their new home at sea, a yacht on which they have left their native Switzerland behind to discover the most remote places on the planet.

Prizes and giveaways for attendees

All attendees at this opening of the national tour in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria will be entered into a draw for special prizes courtesy of Turismo de Lanzarote-La isla diferente, Buceo Norte Gran Canaria, the online academy Buceo ConCiencia, the guided sailing boat route company Mundo Marino Catamaranes, and Kinema Producciones. The prizes include experiences, training and travel to relive the experience and fuel love for the oceans. Simply by purchasing a ticket, spectators could win a trip for two to Lanzarote, several courses for two people at Buceo Norte Gran Canaria, several online Marine Conservation courses with Buceo ConCiencia, as well as several vouchers worth 100 euros for guided routes such as Ifach, Serra Gelada or San Antonio, focused on the natural environment and interpretation with Mundo Marino Catamaranes.

About the festival and its organisers

The International Ocean Film Tour, originally from Germany and produced by Moving Adventures GmbH, is promoted and distributed in Spain, Andorra and Portugal by the Canarian production company Kinema Producciones SL. It is sponsored by Turismo de Lanzarote on its national tour, and this event is supported by the Honourable Las Palmas de Gran Canaria City Council and its City of Sea department, the Culture Department of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and its Faculty of Marine Sciences, Buceo Norte Gran Canaria, Buceo ConCiencia and Catamaranes Mundo Marino. Kinema Producciones collaborates actively and regularly with internationally recognised NGOs such as Sea Shepherd Global, Surfrider Foundation and the local entity Latitud Azul, among others.

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