[00:00:00] Crystal: Welcome to the Healthy Seas Podcast, a show about what we need to do to have just that healthy seas and a healthy future. I’m your host. Crystal de Micelli and in each episode we talk about the problems facing the seas and oceans and the solutions we have to fix them. Come on in. The water’s fine.

I am here today with Fedi, the director of the new documentary, Mediterranean Life Under Siege. It’s a film and series that follows the stories of various species and how they navigate the human pressures they encounter on their journeys. We’ll also be hearing some commentary from Annie Miro Polok from the SI Preservation Fund, who is a partner in the distribution of the movie.

And before we even get started chatting with Fred, I wanna first share this with you from Annie.

[00:01:04] Anni: What I remember the most is when we managed to bring the screen for its premiere in Athens. That happened in, um, early September and well after the screening, we had a discussion with the director and with the attendees and one of the first to raise his hand.

Was the young boy who was, I don’t know, like eight years old or something, grabbed the microphone from his father. He said, okay, I, I just wanted to say that this is the best movie I have ever seen in my life.

[00:01:38] Crystal: Now that we have an even better idea of how cool this film is, let’s chat with Fred. Fred, thank you for joining me today.

Thank

[00:01:45] Fred: you. Hello.

[00:01:47] Anni: Hello.

[00:01:48] Crystal: This was a fantastic documentary. I really, really enjoyed it and I can’t wait to get deeper into learning how you did it and deeper into the stories of these animals that you portrayed. How does one prepare to make a documentary like this?

[00:02:07] Fred: Well, actually, a documentary like this is a lot of science.

First, in the first place, the first stage, which, which is, uh, long. It takes a. Is, uh, documenting on what is really happening because of all these animals and all these plants, you know, they have their own life, but if you don’t study them, uh, very specifically, you don’t know what they’re doing. So we spend a lot of time with scientists, reading, of course, their works, but also interacting with them to get a knowledge of what, what are the life.

Of these characters, uh, in these beings, uh, in the Mediterranean, and how do they interact and how do they cope with human presence? So that’s mostly science. We have to digest a lot of science and then we’ll select. Species that have a interesting, interesting story to tell and where the science has succeeded in, in finding some specific details on their life.

And then start another type of work like finding where the church, uh, meeting where they are nesting, where the tuna, uh, laying their eggs, you know, trying to. Well, this is happening at the same time. We write stories because the science is in science, but what we have to do is to touch the heart. Of the audience and to touch the heart of the audience, you have to have strong stories with the characters that you empathize with, that you like.

So like, like in a drama, we, we build up stories around characters. They’re all true stories because they’re inspired by a sense, but, uh, they are a bit romance so that it’s, it’s something that everybody can hear, you know, and everybody can see. And then, then of course it starts the preparation and shooting, and it’s a long work.

Is this series about four, four years of work altogether? Four years.

[00:04:12] Crystal: Wow. So you were saying that you studied. These species and created the stories around them. Did you find particular individuals to track for the movie?

[00:04:24] Fred: Yes, indeed. Like for instance, the, the turtle story. The turtle story was based on the true turtle story because there was a pin that was put on that turtle within the south of France.

Uh, we could follow heart until Greece, you know, uh, the low. 4,000 kilometers. So it was tracked, the whole itinerary of that turtle was on map. And then we, we reenacted the whole story with different turtles being at a different stage of the travel. So we found a turtle in, in France, we followed for a few days until Corsica.

Then we found a another one in Italy near. And we followed it onto Messina and then we followed another one and we completed the whole, the whole real trajectory with four, five different turtles. I was

[00:05:21] Crystal: very curious because I mean, how do you even find the individual and like stay on top of where they are throughout the filming?

So I was just wondering how it was done.

[00:05:33] Fred: Yeah. When, when you go into into a place, generally there are always. People interested in two animals wherever you go. And, and that these are the people, not the scientists, the people who live there. And that one would be a photographer, one would be just a, an animal lover.

You know, they are non-professional. , but they know the animals, they know where they are. And you’ll find that all around the Medi Mediterranean. There’s so many people who know their environment, who know specifically which animal is where you, you would be, am amaz.

[00:06:10] Crystal: And so you would go searching for, for people to get to find this information and then Exactly.

Find the animal themselves. Wow. Exactly. and how many countries did you film in?

[00:06:21] Fred: We film in, I think, 14 countries. We couldn’t film in, it was Covid time, you know, so we couldn’t film in North Africa. Unfortunately it was closed. But all the part of France, Italy, Greece, we filmed in during Covid and, and during Covid it was.

Because there was no tourist rest, there were no, uh, ferries. There were no ships. There was no plane in the, uh, in the sky. It was, and, and you know what? The animals, that’s when you realize that the animals are always watching us because when we are not, They notice it directly and they go out and they go on the beaches and they go everywhere because we are not there and they know it.

So we were very lucky to film incredible scenes with, uh, those animals with had normally quite difficult to see and, and uh, and those time they were really, really easy to approach.

[00:07:23] Crystal: So you filmed for four years. Were you collecting footage that entire. ,

[00:07:29] Fred: yes. We were always collecting footage, of course, and

[00:07:34] Crystal: with all of this footage.

So I think in the documentary, I remember there were six or seven different species that were highlighted. Were you following other species as well and other storylines?

[00:07:48] Fred: Yes. In fact, the the film you saw is, is a contraction of a series, which is longer. We’ve had four episodes of one hour and, and so that we film much more than what you saw.

What you saw is like kind of the best stories in term of how do animals and living being coped. human interaction. So that’s, that’s what they have in common, these stories. But we film many more in this series differently. There, there are, I think, 24 species. We’ve, with 24 stories we have, uh, filmed now.

Definitely.

[00:08:28] Anni: And

[00:08:28] Crystal: will we be able to see other species in the series that

[00:08:32] Anni: will come out? .

[00:08:34] Fred: Yeah, definitely. And the series is, is on, uh, on most of, um, European channel, including Ray in Italy and e r t in Greece and in Germany, uh, everywhere actually. And, and

[00:08:50] Crystal: what’s that called? So people can look out for it.

[00:08:53] Fred: It’s the exact same name. Same title. Yeah, exactly the same name. Okay.

[00:08:57] Crystal: Did anyone or any story in particular stand out to.

[00:09:01] Fred: I must say I was really, uh, touched by a plant and I could not imagine I would be touched by a plant. But this plant, the pos, is a miraculous plant because it’s first of all, 100,000 years old, so that that makes it the oldest oldest.

But by far living being on the planet, you know, it’s known the Mediterranean when it was 120 meters lower than it is today. . So it’s, no, it, it has lived the, the, the great Ice Age, you know, it has survived. Incredible. So it’s still living. So one first thing, and this, the second thing is that it’s, it’s like 20, 20 times more powerful than the Amazon Forest in term of capturing carbon CO2 and releasing oxygen.

So it’s like, 20 Amazon Forest, it’s there only in the Mediterranean. You can only find it here. There’s no way, no other place in the world. And it does everything for its environment and it feeds some fishes. It’s a, it’s also a nursery for o other beings, you know, it’s, it’s like, it’s a miracle. This plant.

So it has to be taken care of. And it’s only recently that we, we got to know about this plant because we are destroying it with our anchors. And when with an anchor, when you, you touch, you know, half a meter of, of this, it’s five centuries of work of nature that you are destroying. So now it has to be really well protected.

And I think there is awareness all over the ing that we have. We have here a treasure.

[00:10:48] Crystal: Well, Annie can actually speak to that

[00:10:50] Anni: protection. Of campaigns which are, under development right now. in our case in Greece, uh, we are working, uh, we have a, the CCLA Disonia Alert campaign. We’re working together with H E M R, the Hellenic Center for Marine Research, WW F Greece is gonna start also a very powerful campaign.

So the idea is that apart. Raising awareness and informing them, the users and the industry, which has to do with, with yachting. What we also try to do is to do some advocacy, so make, make sure that there will be, the right laws and the right enforcement measures, let’s say, to make sure that, uh, it’ll be not legal for yacht owners for yachts to be anchoring to anchor whenever there is, pos idonia in the sea.

Now, some of

[00:11:47] Crystal: the shots were from the perspective of the animal as if the camera was on their back. Did you actually have a camera on some of the animals or were those animatronics, ,

[00:12:00] Fred: uh, or is

[00:12:01] Crystal: that a filming secret? ?

[00:12:03] Fred: No, no, no, no, no, no. Not a filming secret because there is a film on the making of, uh, there are some shots where we could approach.

Certain animals really, really close and come on top of them. We did, but the one where the camera is really, really on the, on the back there are , 2 examples. One is the whale. The fin wheel so that , we stick a camera temporarily on the back of the wheel, , and the camera will stay one or two hours on the back of the well and then release.

So it’s with a, I don’t know how you said this, something like the sticks.

[00:12:42] Anni: Like a section cup

[00:12:43] Fred: or something. , yeah. Section cup. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm. . So that’s very funny because you see on the back that where you. Up and down and all that, and you see the fish all. So that’s one, one. Uh, uh, for the turtle, the marine turtle, we didn’t want to put the camera on the turtle.

It would, uh, I thought it was too hard on the turtle, so we made antic turtle. To, to create certain specific shots. And that was very funny. That was very helpful actually. And so we had this half turtle that was animated with the head and, uh, and the palms and all the fin and, and we were diving with it.

And, and one day we were at Greece , and there was a big turtle there and she saw. Animatronic turtle. She hurried at it and she, she fought with her. She wanted to destroy it, because, because it was her territory and she didn’t want any other turtle in her territory, so she tried to kill her.

[00:13:47] Crystal: even though

[00:13:47] Anni: it half a turtle. ,

[00:13:49] Fred: we have the, we have the shot. It’s amazing. Oh,

[00:13:52] Anni: really?

[00:13:53] Crystal: Yeah. Is that

[00:13:54] Anni: in the, the making of

[00:13:56] Fred: No. Yeah, it’s on, on the film. You see when she goes into the, the harbor? Yes. There is a fight between two turtles where there was one shot. Is is done with this.

[00:14:08] Crystal: Oh, I didn’t realize. Yeah, I didn’t even realize that was an animatronic one.

Well,

[00:14:14] Fred: there all the shots are not elementary except this shot. Yeah. In the middle.

[00:14:18] Crystal: Oh, how, how interesting. So what made you wanna do this? Where, where did the idea come from?

[00:14:26] Fred: I wanted to do this film because I’ve been. You know, I’ve been filming nature all around the planet for many years, and 10 years ago I decided I should film the, the European Nature.

As in a big, in a big way as elephants or tigers or lions are filmed in Africa or in Asia. You know, I was, I was a bit, uh, disappointed that our animals were not as treated as well as the, the big African or as, uh, animals, we always, uh, relate to the Mediterranean for the culture, for the, the arts, for the civilizations, for this.

And never for nature. So I thought it was, it deserved to be done

[00:15:18] Crystal: and it was beautifully done. There are some rich stories and biodiversity in, in that area,

[00:15:24] Fred: so, and it’s such a beautiful place also. It’s, it’s a magnificent place. It’s, it’s unique. Mm-hmm. unique for sure. We are, we are so lucky to have this seal here.

[00:15:36] Crystal: Absolutely. Now, were there any hiccups in filming? That

[00:15:43] Anni: you can talk about.

[00:15:45] Fred: Hmm. There are always many hiccups while filming because animals are not actors and, and they don’t do what is expected. They always do the contrary. That what you expect, , that’s true. And, and natural condition. Uh, one, one little story.

When we went, you know, the, the storks. Every year , they go from Europe to Africa and they come back. So big migration, tens of thousands of birds. They go south and, and back, back north. So we filmed the passage from south to north. In stock. They are really bad in flying. They are really the worst flyer of birds.

They’re absolutely useless. So they can’t fly. , if there is no heat, if there is no ground to heat the, you know, there’s no terminal winds. They, they, they can’t fly. So what they do, , they cross only at one place with Gibraltar. Alta is 14 kilometers only. So they have to cross this 14 from Africa.

From Africa to Spain or from Spain to Africa. But they can’t fly on water because on water, the, there’s no air coming up. The pump, you know, the pump is, When it’s sunny on land, then there’s, they can start,

[00:17:14] Crystal: it creates the thermal

[00:17:15] Fred: currents. Thermal things, so, mm-hmm. . So what they do, they wait for the sun to come, then they go up very high, as high as possible, 1,500 meters, and then they go 14 kilometers just with, with their large wings.

Just gliding. Gliding. They don’t have to to pump. Our goal was to film that with a drone, to have a drone follow them in this kilometers crossing. And so we get there and when we get there, the many stocks, thousand of stocks on the ground and say, okay, uh, go. They wouldn’t go after two, three days. We wondered what’s happening.

and suddenly we see some clouds coming from the Atlantic and the clouds were building up. And when there are clouds, there’s no terminal winds, so there’s no heat and they can’t fly. And it took them 10 days to finally decide. To leave, leave and, and cross, you know, 10 days of waiting for the right angle of the sun, the right no clouds situation, you know?

Oh my goodness. So, yeah, it’s like you have to wait because they won’t go, you know, . Yeah, we were begging. Please. Can you fly? No. No way. . No way. But after the, oh man, we, we finally followed them and the images are incredible. They are, it’s just turning.

[00:18:54] Crystal: And what would you like, where do you wanna see this film go?

What would you like it

[00:18:59] Fred: to become? It’s, it’s most important that this film is carried into the, the classroom of young Europeans, because young Europeans are the one who will do the Europe of two to tomorrow. And adults, they already have their bad habits about living. The, the things on the beach and on the plastic, and also the, the one that ha the, the hope for the Mediterranean and, uh, in general nature.

Is in the hand of, uh, young people nowadays, so we are pushing the film into the classes with the, the professors. And so that’s the first goal is to, to have, to create an impact in the mind of those youngsters so that they are aware and they can adapt their behavior to the survival of their wealth of tomorrow.

[00:19:55] Crystal: Annie actually has some exciting news regarding bringing this film into classroom.

[00:20:00] Anni: What is even more incredible is the fact that the Greek animal production company, in partnership with the Greek Ministry of Education, has confirmed that there will be a platform created by the Greek Ministry of Education that will include selected documentaries including.

This documentary, the Mediterranean Life Undersea, and this means that from spring 2023 onwards, the film will be available for free for all the schools across Greece, which is fantastic. This means that all the teachers will be able to access this information and share it with the kids and themselves because the school community is a super alive c.

So what’s an

[00:20:45] Crystal: animal that wasn’t in the film that we’re gonna be able to see in the

[00:20:49] Fred: series? So the Monk Seal. The Monk seal is a fabulous animal. It’s like it’s the largest seal on the planet. First of all, it is more than 300 kilos. It’s really a big seal. And in the, in the nineties what happened is like after centuries of slaughter, we realized there were no more monk seal and there were maybe.

20, 30 of them left because there were competitors of fishermen, you know, and, and it’s been dis considered, they’ve been massacred. So they were 30 left and they were, those ones, they were really shy. They were living in capes, underwater caves in some part of Greece. And there was a NGO called Mom that decided to take care of them.

And so they placed cameras just to, to see where they were and what were they needing, and they, they created protected area so nobody could arm them. And slowly, slowly, After 30 years of protection, we now think there are between 601,000 seals in the Mediterranean and they’re going to Turkey, they’re going back to Italy.

Now the, we heard that some are back in Italy, and that’s really good news. It’s a big animal. It’s a big wild animal. You shouldn’t approach it even if you wanna, you know, you wanna have fun because it’s like really? It looks like a. Friend, huh? So we, we told the story of one baby seal that got lost in a, a storm and Oh, how this whole story, uh, evolved.

A baby that got lost. Yeah. Yeah, baby. Actually, the story is amazing. And it was captured on camera because there were camera in a, in a cave. We found, uh, Two mother seals live in a cave and they have the babies at the same time, which is normal. One of the baby dies. Reason we don’t know. You know it happens that some baby died in the at birth, but the mother whose baby is dead.

Doesn’t wanna accept, she’s in denial. And she considered that the other baby is also, is also a baby. So you have two mothers for one baby and they fight at each other because they, they both think it’s my baby, you know, . So this is, this is amazing. And, and the baby is there in the middle and he doesn’t know how to satisfy his bo both his mother, you know, and so is.

and this particular seal one day went away, you know, just to by curiosity. And he got, he got taken by a storm and he was rescue skewed, and then some people helped him and there’s a whole beautiful story. Wow.

[00:23:50] Crystal: Oh, I can’t wait to see it. I’ll have to catch that in this series. And remind me again, where can people find this series and where can people find the.

[00:24:00] Fred: The series is available on most national channels like Ray in Italy, e r t, in Greece, n d r in Germany, France, in France, you know, uh, in Spain, uh, and movie star. That’s for the series. The, the, the feature. that you’ve seen is essentially used for impact that is special screenings and, and for children in schools and festivals.

It’s not online yet.

[00:24:34] Crystal: Okay. As soon as it is, let us know the link so we can share it with everyone.

[00:24:40] Fred: Well, if you want, I can give you a link, you know, for your podcast for

[00:24:46] Crystal: Oh, so it’s okay if it’s seen publicly. No problem. Oh, that would be wonderful. So I’ll include the link in the show notes, so anyone who’s listening, go and check out that link, watch the film, and, and then go find that series somewhere, wherever you are based.

Is it available now?

[00:25:08] Fred: Probably, yes. Probably. Uh, it depend on the countries because they don’t air it at the same time. So it depends where you are.

[00:25:18] Crystal: So once these kids and also adults see this movie, I feel that they’ll be inspired to help in some way. And so I asked Annie, since her organization works so closely with grassroots groups to conserve and protect the easy ecosystems, what could someone do after seeing the series or the movie?

[00:25:38] Anni: Somehow we need to keep thinking positively. We need to make sure that we will do even the minimum we can do. You know, just give a small donation. I mean, this is the minimum that we can do. Make sure you know that. You offer something for a good cause, you know, do that for the environment or become a volunteer or even, there are so many projects out there run by NGOs most of the times where these citizen science projects where you can just observe something.

You know, you may be on holidays and, and see for example, a or a dolphin. Or I don’t know, uh, the marine, uh, sea turtles. Maybe this information where you saw it. Exactly. It’s important for the scientist, for the people working on the ground, so make sure you gather this information. You take some pictures, you make some videos.

and instead of just sharing it with your friends, make sure that you can share it with the experts because they will use this knowledge in order for them to improve the management plans. So, I mean, just be there. Just open your eyes, your ears and your heart to nature and look around for information. How can you.

[00:26:58] Anni: I have to say that I

[00:26:59] Crystal: really enjoyed it. I thought it was just so well done in that it told the stories of these individuals and the challenges that they’re facing, but you don’t walk away feeling like you’re gutted and the whole world is coming to an end. You actually feel excited and empowered to go and do something to help them and make things better.

So I think that it was a really special element of your film. So thank you so much for creating such a great piece of work, and I can’t wait for others to see it as well. And I’m not the only one who feels this way. Obviously that adorable boy from earlier does too. And Annie had some nice words to share as.

[00:27:36] Anni: He doesn’t make any of us feel guilty or feel that we don’t do the right thing. But this films makes us feel that we can be part of the solution. That by being, by advocating or by becoming volunteers in something, or by changing small things, small habits, when we. Having holidays or when we are having our normal life or when we are on a business, every one of us, you know, as a consumer, as a citizen, as as a member of community.

or even through our work can, can bring the chains one way or another when we have the right information, the right knowledge, and when we, we are inspired to do so. And this films, this film offers both knowledge and inspiration for us to act. I agree. I feel the same way.

[00:28:35] Fred: Thank you very much, crystal. It was really agreeable to speak to you.

[00:28:39] Crystal: Thank you. Is there anything else you wanna mention?

[00:28:43] Fred: I’d say yes, be aware of the marvelous, marvelous Mediterranean sea that is around you and the, and the life small and big that is around you. And if you look well, you’ll be astonished by the richness of all this. And if you can protect it. Absolutely.

[00:29:16] Crystal: Thanks for diving into the Healthy Seas podcast with me. I’m your host, crystal De Micelli, and I was just chatting with Feric, Fuji and Annie Mik. If you wanna watch this film, be sure to check out the link in the show notes. And if you wanna learn more about Healthy Cs, head on over to healthy cs.org or follow along on their ventures through social media.

If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe and review it on your favorite podcasting app. I’ll catch you next time.

Healthy Seas is a nonprofit on a journey from waste to Wear. Founded in 2013, the organization aims at reducing marine litter caused by lost fishing gear. Through cleanup prevention and education activities, the nets collected by healthy seas are subsequently reused and. And used by its partners for the creation of new products.