International Ocean Film Foundation
SEQUOIAS OF THE SEA
Join us for a special World Ocean Day screening
followed by an onstage Q&A with the filmmakers.
SEQUOIAS OF THE SEA tells the story of the environmental, cultural and economic destruction impacting a Northern California town that has lost its kelp forest. It’s a deep dive into the lives of fishermen, tribes, scientists, and a community working to restore a habitat devastated by a warming climate.
Kelp forests, found along nearly a quarter of global coastlines, are crucial climate change mitigators, but this species is in trouble. Along the Northern California coast we have lost a striking 95% of these underwater forests. Due to a perfect storm of changing ocean conditions, we are witnessing an ecological disaster in real time. What’s happening in the ocean is changing lives on land, bringing fishermen, scientists and tribe members together, to restore this critical ecosystem and build a new blue economy. (US 2025) 54 min. View Trailer
On stage post-screening Q&A with co-directors: Natasha Benjamin & Ana Blanco and moderated by Maria Brown. Presented in partnership with CA Film.
Saturday, June 6 at 7:00 pm
Smith Rafael Film Center
1118 4th Street
San Rafael, CA 94901
Click here for Tickets
$16.00 General Admission
$14 Seniors & Youth
$11 CAFILM members
Join us prior to the screening to meet our community partners
and learn more about their innovative ocean conservation efforts.
Doors open at 5:30 pm
Caspar Cove Project
Materevolve
Primitives
Time and Water
"A poetic and haunting elegy for a glacier"
Renowned Icelandic poet and author, Andri Snær Magnason, is chasing something elusive. As the glacial ice of his homeland melts, he constructs a cinematic time capsule to hold onto this moment and send it to the future, before everything he loves slips away. Using his own collected archives, his grandparents’ photographs and films as well as traditional songs and folktales, Andri interlaces his family’s story with that of the land around him. From Academy Award®-nominated director Sara Dosa, TIME AND WATER is a universal reflection on the power of home and what it means to be alive amid profound epochal change.
Watch Trailer
Director: Sara Dosa (Iceland/US 2026) 93 min.
Smith Rafael Film Center
1118 Fourth Street, San Rafael
June 16 7:00 PM
SCREENING + CONVERSATION
WITH FILMMAKER SARA DOSA, MODERATED BY MAUREEN GOSLING
Tickets
Enter your chance to win two free tickets to this screening
based on a random drawing.
Good only for the June 16th 7pm screening at Smith Rafael Film Center
Register to win here!
Filmmaker Testimonials
"It was a great honour for SOULs to be selected and screened at IOFF 2025. The venue at fort mason was incredible and provided an amazing space for the film to be presented alongside other amazing ocean stories. The film festival was a great opportunities to meet filmmakers alike and amplifying ocean stories to a global audience."
Ian Mun
Souls
Singapore (2025)
"A beautifully organised festival and a great selection of ocean films. Thank you so much for selecting my film 'Peixinho' for the Jury Award. Meeting so many other passionate filmmakers and ocean lovers at the festival was incredible. The audiences were great, and the city was so hospitable. I hope to be back again!"
Kaushiik Subramaniam
Peixinho (Little Fish)
Portugal (2025)
"Thank you so much to the whole staff of this amazing festival: people who loves Oceans and really trust in the power of impactful storytelling in boostering positive change in our society. I hope I'll be able to attend the IOFF again!"
Francesco de Augustinis
Until the End of the World
Italy (2024)
IOFF Sponsors
IOFF Education Program
The 20th Anniversary edition of the Free Ocean Education Film Program for middle school and high school students will be hosted this year on Thursday April 9th and Friday April 10th at the BATS Theater in Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture in San Francisco.
The two hour event features a curated program of official selections from the main film festival designed to entertain, engage and inspire middle school and high school students from across the Bay Area. The core value of the mission of the International Ocean Film Foundation is education and ocean literacy, and to be the premier platform for ocean education and literacy through independent film.
Students have the opportunity to engage with filmmakers, scientists, marine biology experts and more. Many students gain insights into the possibility of becoming a filmmaker or studying marine sciences and becoming a marine scientist as a career option.