Filmmaker Statement
My name is not Ishmael -- but I’ve been chasing this story for nearly twenty five years.
In October, 1996 I was interviewing Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson for Maclean's Magazine, asking how he fell in love with whales, and he told me a story that boggled my mind. He told me about Moby Doll - the whale who changed the world.
Until July 1964, the world knew killer whales were monsters. Do you remember how you felt about Great White sharks the summer you saw Jaws? That’d be how everyone on the planet felt about killer whales. They were vicious, savage beasts and if you crossed paths with one you’d be lucky to live to tell the tale.
Then, in the summer of ’64, a team from the Vancouver Aquarium went to Saturna Island to kill a killer whale so they could dissect and study it. They harpooned the whale and when the harpoon hooked the whale, but didn’t kill it, they started shooting it with a rifle. A posse arrived on the shore with their guns to shoot the monster. Dr. Pat McGeer, the neuroscientist who was helping the team because he wanted the chance to dissect a really big brain arrived and despite warnings that he was risking his life, went out to the boat and told the team to stop shooting. McGeer was the only person on the expedition who hadn’t read the scientific literature about how these creatures were vicious. He just looked at the size of the whale, the size of the boat and surmised that if the whale wanted to kill his team they’d already be dead. Then Murray Newman, the director of the Vancouver Aquarium arrived on the scene and he and McGeer decided to do something crazy and take the whale back to Vancouver. Alive.
Newman named the whale “Moby Doll.”
There were two big stories in BC in the summer of 1964 -- the Beatles playing Empire Stadium and Moby Doll. Mobymania was bigger. Scientists from around the world came to study Moby. Media from around the world came to meet "the monster". And over a span of a few weeks the media went from talking about a “monster” to talking about “Vancouver’s beloved pet whale.”
This was the best of three Spielberg movies -- Jaws, ET and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. This was first contact with an alien creature.
Over a decade after I made my first feature, The Green Chain, I realized movie making wasn’t as terrifying as I thought. We’ve shot most of the movie so far on credit cards, favors and goodwill and we’re close enough to the finish line that we really need a final financial push to finish it. Especially due to the cost of archival footage which is the one thing we haven’t been able to beg, borrow or steal. In between beginning the film and now I’ve been lucky enough to have written a best-selling book on the same topic (whose structure will strongly inform the editorial process) and have made another short film about the Pacific Northwest’s beloved orca matriarch “Granny”, who unfortunately finally succumbed to her estimated 105 years of age as we were finishing post-production.
Thanks for your consideration.
Mark (Ishmael) Leiren-Young
Writer-director-producer, The Killer Whale Who Changed The World
THE TEAM
Filmmaker, Mark Leiren-Young
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Mark Leiren-Young, (dubbed by the National Post as “Canada’s Go-To Guy for Dolphins, Whales and Trees”) has three new books about whales being released over the next few months: Orcas Everywhere, Orcas of the Salish Sea and Big Whales, Small World. He is currently consulting on an orca exhibit for the Royal BC Museum which will be touring the world for the next ten years to celebrate the UN’s decade of Ocean Sustainability. He is also writing the exhibit. He wrote and directed the award winning short documentary The Hundred-Year-Old Whale ( 2017 Writers Guild of Canada Award for “best documentary.”); wrote, directed and produced the doc style feature film, The Green Chain, which was nominated for the WGC Award for best screenplay and received the El Prat de Llobregat Award at the 15th annual FICMA Environmental Film Festival in Barcelona. He is the author of three books about environmental issues -- The Green Chain: Nothing is Ever Clear-Cut;This Crazy Time: Living Our Environmental Challenge written with/about controversial environmentalist, Tzeporah Berman and published by Knopf, and the recently published bestseller The Killer Whale Who Changed The World. Mark wrote/directed/produced a CBC Ideas radio documentary about Moby Doll which won a Jack Webster Award for “Best Radio Documentary. He hosts the Skaana podcast about orcas, oceans and the environment.
Producer Tony Wosk
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Tony Wosk has been working in Canada's film and television industry for almost twenty years. He served as Executive in Charge of Production for CBC Television, prior to which he spent almost a decade in feature film financing, production and distribution. Based in Toronto and Vancouver he produced the documentary Lost Heroes: The Untold Story of Canadian Superheroes, the Banff Rockie Award winning TV series The Illegal Eater, and the award winning short documentary The Hundred-Year-Old Whale. He was also Executive Producer of rock documentary The Sheepdogs Have At It and soon to be released feature drama Nose to Tail.
Producer Kyle Bornais
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Kyle Bornaisis a CSA & Gemini nominated Producer who has Produced and Executive Produced film and television for the Canadian and International marketplace. A short-list of Kyle's producing credits includes feature documentaries, Bachman (Hot Docs 2018), The Sheepdogs Have At It; We’re The Weakerthans, We’re from Winnipeg; and the lifestyle & documentary series Kid Diners(TVO);The Illegal Eater (Travel & Escape, Esquire); and Escape or Die!(Rogers OLN).
What We Need & What You Get
Mark Leiren-Young has been fighting for years to save the endangered Southern Resident Orcas (J, K and L pod). The story of Moby Doll (a member of Jpod) will be a natural entree into our advocacy to help spread the word to the world and incite action to save these majestic animals. There are only 73 left and their species is fading fast due to lack of food sources, ocean noise and pollution among other human made factors.
Here is a short clip of Mark's advocacy speaking at a town hall meeting in Victoria against the Trans Mountain (aka)Kinder Morgan Pipeline.
Here's how we'd like to spend the money we raise
Additional filming 23%
Editing 40%
Archival footage 23%
Post Production 7%
Misc 7%
*If we're lucky enough to raise more than our goal we will direct that money to archival footage, music and paying some hardworking people who have thus far donated their time.
The Impact
Just over a year ago the world watched as Tahlequah, an orca mother, displayed her dead daughter to the world for seventeen days. Tahlequah is a member of J-Pod - the most famous whales in the world… Moby Doll’s family. These are the orcas who are on the edge of extinction because of overfishing, pollution, pipelines and the devastation we caused when we kidnapped or killed more than 50 of their members during the captivity era. Author and historian, Jason Colby, told us that we have a moral debt to this incredible population. This movie is about trying to honour that debt.
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Comment: ONE YEAR AFTER THE DEATH OF ORCA CALF, WHAT IS BEING DONE TO SAVE THE WHALES? (by Mark Leiren-Young, Victoria Times Colonist July 24, 2019)
Risks & Challenges
Our goal is set at the minimum amount we believe we require to finish this film and tell our story to the world. Our team members have a background in film distribution so we are confident with the experience we have that we will be able to release the film once completed and position it to be exhibited worldwide. We want to finish quickly as it is urgent for the survival of this species to advocate as loudly as possible, as soon as possible. We hope to raise more through both crowdfunding and other sources in order to increase the production value for audiences so that they are more likely to respond and help the Sothern Residents.
Other Ways You Can Help
*Please share this campaign with your friends who may be interested.
* Please get in touch with us if you saw Moby Doll in Vancouver in 1964 and have photos or film you'd like to share