Our latest film, My Haggan Dream (My Sea Turtle Dream), has won Best Children's Program at the BLUE Ocean Film Festival in St. Petersburg, Florida! We have now won this category every time we have submitted, making four incredible wins for Sisbro.
My Haggan Dream is a story about a young girl named Kaya on the island of Saipan, who has a mysterious dream about a haggan, or green sea turtle, which leads her to investigate the sea turtles that live around her home. Her adventure leads her to wonderful things, including a birthday wish. The film is a co-production between Sisbro Studios and Open Boat Films, funded by a grant from NOAA. We spent several weeks filming turtles, as well as our lead actress in the Pacific.
There were only seven nesting sea turtles on the island of Saipan this year, and while we were on the island, one of the turtles was poached. That was such a wake up call to us, that we truly hope this film helps preserve the remaining sea turtles on the island.
Laura Sams, Stephani Gordon and Robert Sams film on the island of Saipan
BLUE Ocean Film Festival and Conservation summit is a gathering of the world's top ocean filmmakers, scientists, government leaders, celebrities and media professionals. The festival has featured incredible speakers, including Dr. Sylvia Earle, Bob Ballard, the Cousteau Family, actor Jeremy Irons and more. BLUE is an international non-profit organization that uses the power of film, visual arts, entertainment, and science to inspire ocean stewardship around the world. The festival provides a springboard for individual empowerment and policy action to help save Earth’s blue life support system, the 71% percent of the planet’s surface that is ocean.