Sea Shepherd
REQUIEM 2019
Short Film - 2012
Directed by Sil van der Woerd
The last remaining blue whale shares its story of extinction with its only enemy; mankind.
Whales, the largest and perhaps most majestic animals that ever lived on our planet, are still being slaughtered for human consumption under the false banner of 'research'. This film was made to support the activities of Sea Shepherd, the anti-whaling organisation that takes action against this injustice.
Director Sil van der Woerd
" I’m not the kind of person who has the stomach to go on a boat to block the Japanese vessels on their way to the act of whaling, but I can be someone who makes film about it."
Blue whales can reach a weight of up to 180 tonnes, and a length up to 30m. They can reach an age of 80-90 years and love to sing, hitting notes our ears can’t even perceive. What is not to love?
Legendary actor Rutger Hauer (1944-2019), known for his roles in Blade Runner and Batman Begins, reached out to us to make a film to support Sea Shepherd, for which he was an ambassador. We wrote and co-directed the film together and captured Rutger's performance on a greenscreen stage in Denmark.
Although whaling is illegal in Denmark, the annual hunt known as the grindadráp, is still allowed in the Faroe Islands, which is part of Denmark. Here, hundreds of whales are still killed annually.
We created the environment for our film digitally, and built a whale that we animated. We used real whaling footage supplied to us by Sea Shepherd and projected it onto the digital whale's body.
Partners
This project was made in collaboration with:
