New York Film Academy Documentary Department is proud to announce that Freya is an Official Selection of the G2 Green Earth Film Festival. Last November, the film premiered with four other NYFA student documentaries at the prestigious DOC NYC at the IFC Center in New York City.
Filmed by seven students during a NYFA filmmaking expedition to Belize, Freya follows the story of an endangered loggerhead sea turtle fighting to survive a shark attack against the odds.
The students who worked on Freya spent a week filming and helping the local volunteers. The expedition focused on the imperiled Mesoamerican Reef including coral reef conservation, endangered sea turtles and manatees.
“Following Freya’s story has been the opportunity of a lifetime,” says director, Rachael Peltzer.
On the expeditions, young filmmakers explore threatened ocean worlds and raise a call to activism through the power of documentary storytelling—all in collaboration with some of the top marine conservation organizations. Expedition collaborators include Mission Blue, Healthy Reefs for Healthy People, Oceanic Society, Ecomar, Turneffe Atoll Sustainability Association, Sea to Shore Alliance & Coastal Zone Management of Belize, Hawksbill Hope, and the Belize Fisheries Department.
“It’s exciting to see the expeditions spark a deep love for the oceans in young filmmakers; and a passion to tell stories that can help save them,” says Andrea Swift, Chair of the Documentary Department at NYFA.
“The ocean is in great danger,” says producer and former student, Gary Bencheghib, who is currently working on another documentary called Recycled Mississippi. “We are hopeful that stories like Freya’s will help increase awareness of such critical environmental issues.”