Offshore Film Festival 2019 sails into Southampton

[AD*] Who doesn’t love seeing awesome places, feats of nature and people doing extraordinary things pushing themselves to the absolute limit?

Adventure film festivals are a form of escapism for me, it gives me travel ideas and it’s one of my favourite ways to spend an evening.

When the team at Offshore Film Festival invited me to an evening of ocean adventure through a program of films focusing on the world’s best diving, surfing and sailing I, of course, said HELL YEAH!

This was the festival’s first time in Southampton, but this is its third year touring Europe and the UK. Here I give a little insight into my evening and the short films.

Once settled into my seat the films were introduced and the lights dimmed. The first film was 12 minutes long and called ‘One breath around the world’.

It follows free-diving world champion, Guillaume Néry, as he spends time under the sea while travelling around the world. Mauritius, Finland, Japan and Mexico are just a few places he visits over eight months to create the short breath taking film.

My two favourite scenes were his movement through what looks like a layer of fog and the bit where he swims with whales. It’s so impressive and I had to remind myself this was all while holding his breath.

The second film showed the life of world champion big wave surfer, Paige Alms, who lives in Maui chasing the illusive wave called Jaws. She pushes the limits of women’s surfing on and off the water through her intense training and dedication to promoting the sport to young women in Hawaii and beyond.

I loved seeing her daily life, from growing vegetables in her garden, to shaping her board with her surf board building boyfriend and her reaction to when a surf competition is ‘called on’. That’s what happens three days ahead of competition, the surfers are warned and they have 72 hours to get from wherever they are to Maui to ride, compete and see if they can catch a ‘Jaws’ wave.

Dug Out follows two adventure seeking dreamers called Benjamin Saddlebacks and James Trundle on their mission to build a canoe from scratch and paddle it down the Amazon.

The two chaps were welcomed by the native Huaorani tribe in Ecuador, where a local family helps them to build a long narrow canoe made from a single tree trunk. James and Ben fell a whopper of a tree in the forest and shape it by hand into a canoe called a “Pirogue”.

The two likely lads are hilarious, endearing and work so hard. We follow their journey from larking around naked in their wellies in the rain and swinging on vines to learning how much hard work goes into surviving without power tools and modern conveniences.

They way it’s filmed and their journey is so immersive and you can’t not root for the two guys as they face the many battles of navigating the Ysauni River.

While I’ve seen this film before I loved seeing it again and it was just as good the second time around. I noticed a lot more detail and there’s some incredible nature close ups. The story is incredible and will hold you captive from start to finish. What an adventure!

After a short interlude we were straight back into things for the fourth and final film. The first half was excellent, there’s something about people’s personal stories and challenges that are so inspirational. I couldn’t wait to see what the last film was about!

In the final film Ian Lipinski competes in the Mini Transat, a sailing competition where participants cross the Atlantic solo. We follow Ian on his journey over several years through the highs and lows of repeatedly chasing the title on winner.

This film is fairly long but you got a real feeling for the endurance, brutality and reality of a solo Atlantic crossing. There’s many things that can go wrong and it’s filmed like you’re right there in the cabin with him as he races through each stage to reach the finish line.

I really enjoyed my first experience attending the Offshore Film Festival , I hope it returns for the winter program as I’ll be keeping my eye out for tickets.

After films like this I’m always so inspired to book travel, or do something different to push myself out of my boundaries or challenge myself. A part of me always wants to be travelling the world rather than being stuck in a 9-5!

I go to quite a few film programs like this, it’s my jam but, they’re never near where I live. I am so happy that Offshore decided to bring their offering to the Vue cinema in Eastleigh, Southampton. As the programs usually run quite late, usually 3-4 hours, having less distance to travel home is a real bonus!

The team will be visiting a few other locations around the UK and Europe and you can see where they’re headed next and future film programs on offshore-festival.com

Let me know if you’ve been or decide to book up!

For a little taster of what the event is like watch the trailer below…