Beneath the Waves Film Festival Coming to Florida Tech

The Florida Tech Department of Biological Sciences is gearing up to host the internationally recognized Beneath the Waves Film Festival in about a month.  The festival will be held on the main campus October 10 and 11 from 6-9 p.m.  We are excited to host this event to help raise awareness for the problems facing the Indian River Lagoon.  Some of the educational outreach I participate in is through Beneath the Waves Inc. and I am one of the festival co-organizers.

We are going to have two exciting nights of marine science films designed to educate the public about the broader impacts of marine related research.  On October 10, a night geared for an adult audience, graduate students will showcase their research before we view the films. After the films (7-8 p.m.), the audience will have the chance to ask a panel of scientists their questions.  The October 11 event is geared toward a K-12 audience with activities and demonstrations showcased prior to the films. The suite of films that we selected for October 11 will serve as examples for K-12 students to make their own marine science film.

We are working with Beneath the Waves Inc. to launch the first-ever Youth Making Ripples Film Competition, a challenge to K-12 students throughout the country to make their own marine-related film. Student films will debut to the public on January 18 and the audience will vote for the winning film. The best part? It’s all free and we will have prizes for the winners! It is going to be an exciting event and we hope we will be able to offer it on a yearly basis.