An award-winning short film celebrating the North West coast had a special screening in Letterkenny this week.
Fair Seas: The Atlantic Northwest was shown to a sold-out auditorium in the Regional Cultural Centre on Wednesday evening.
The 14-minute film features the views, stories and insights of local communities who depend on the sea to make a living. It won the Exceptional Merit award at the Documentaries Without Borders International Film Festival and was a finalist at the Big Blue Film Festival in Oregon in recent days.
Members of the audience take their seats for the screening of Fair Seas latest film ‘The Atlantic Northwest’ in the Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny.
A short update on Marine Protected Areas in Ireland was given by Fair Seas and a panel discussion with community members from the film took place after the screening, with questions from the audience which included local dive clubs, surfers and fish producer organisations who were in attendance.
The Fair Seas coalition has been campaigning for strong and ambitious legislation committing to effectively protecting 30% of the seas around Ireland by 2030, with 10% strictly protected. The group is calling for stakeholder engagement at every stage, clear delivery timeframes and a robust management framework, with targeted, site-specific measures to ensure MPAs deliver for nature.
Members of the audience take part in a panel discussion and question and answer opportunity with speakers at the Letterkenny screening of Fair Seas latest film ‘The Atlantic Northwest’ in the Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny, on Wednesday night. Picture: Declan Doherty
Grace Carr, Marine Advocacy Office with the Irish Wildlife Trust said:
“Fair Seas: the Atlantic Northwest’ has been incredibly well received and we were delighted to bring it back to the region for its first Irish in-person screening. The coastal communities of Donegal and Sligo are at the heart of the film and several of the participants joined our panel discussion after the film. We heard from John Shine of Shine’s Seafood, angler Peter MacAuley, scuba dive instructor Aoibheann Gillespie Mules and Auriel Robinson of Seatrails. We are passionate about listening to and telling the stories of coastal communities as we campaign to protect the vital resource that is our ocean.”
Keep an eye out for future screenings of Fair Seas: The Atlantic Northwest by following Fair Seas on their social media channels.
For more information about Fair Seas visit https://fairseas.ie/
