BLUE Ocean Film Festival announces 2016 Legacy Award honorees — Greg MacGillivray and Nainoa Thompson
2016 Legacy Awards, BLUE Ocean Film Festival and Conservation Summit, St. Petersburg, Florida, November 10 -13, 2016
BLUE Ocean Film Festival and Conservation Summit (BLUE) has announced two distinguished recipients of its 2016 Legacy Awards – ocean filmmaker Greg MacGillivray, and ocean voyager Nainoa Thompson (feature image). The Legacy Award is presented to individuals in recognition of extraordinary achievements that create a lasting legacy in ocean conservation, exploration, innovation, and the pursuit of ocean knowledge. The awards will be presented at BLUE 2016 held November 10-13 in St. Petersburg, Florida.
“We are proud to honor these two outstanding ocean pioneers with our Legacy Award, for their enduring courage, talents, wisdom and perseverance,” said BLUE’s CEO Deborah Kinder. “BLUE celebrates individual achievements in the global ocean community and ignites media collaborations and conservation projects that make a difference. Join us this year at BLUE 2016 where you will be inspired by the world’s greatest ocean films, and the people you will meet. Now in our seventh year, we meet, learn, conspire, and share ideas together that help solve our ocean’s most pressing issues.”
Greg MacGillivray has been selected for his 50 years of distinguished accomplishments in ocean filmmaking and storytelling. A pioneer in production for the giant screen, he has produced and directed some of the industry’s most enduring and award-winning films and has received two Academy Award nominations. A passionate ocean conservationist, Greg co-founded the One World One Ocean Foundation, a non-profit public charity dedicated to educating and inspiring the public through giant-screen films and companion programming about the need to take action to protect the world’s ocean.
Nainoa Thompson has been selected for his distinguished accomplishments in the art and science of ancient navigation and ocean voyaging, and for his unique ability to encourage ocean stewardship through a revival of traditional knowledge and a respect for nature’s wisdom. Thompson is president of Polynesian Voyaging Society, and lead navigator of the double-hulled sailing canoe Hokule‘a, which perpetuates experiential education and inspires communities to care for themselves, each other, and their natural and cultural environments.
Founded in 2009, BLUE alternates each year between Monaco and St. Petersburg as a fun-filled gathering of ocean-related films, breath-taking photography, inspiring keynotes, captivating art, thought-provoking panels, engaging music, hands-on workshops, conservation activities and great parties. A unique convergence of film festival and ocean conservation summit, BLUE has become one of the world’s most popular ocean events for innovators, entrepreneurs, government dignitaries, emerging talent, media icons, thought-leaders, scientists, teachers, explorers and industry professionals from all walks of life who share a common passion for the sea.