Academy Award-winning director Louie Psihoyos (“The Cove”), producer Fisher Stevens, and the subjects of their film Travis Threlkel and Leilani Münter, discussed their documentary “6” in a panel moderated by Indiewire’s Paula Bernstein. The conversation is part of a series of talks hosted at the Apple Store in SoHo.
As a documentary, “6” assembles a team of activists employing creative channels to show the world never-before-seen images that will change the way we understand issues of endangered species and mass extinction.
When an audience member asked Psihoyos about when creativity started informing his activism, the director provided an anecdote. Psihoyos described the moment he shirked the formal constraints of journalism. In trying to tell the story of “The Cove” legally, Psihoyos was stymied by bureaucracy. Psihoyos said, “I had this lighting bolt of an idea. If we could break into the cove, we could actually show what’s going on. I realized I was crossing that boundary of being a journalist where you’re supposed to be an observer… If I can break out of this journalist shell, and do what the hell I want to do, which is to see what’s going on, I can do something to save these creatures.”
Psihoyos and Threlkel also described the missing piece of the film, a massive projection event that will illuminate the Manhattan skyline with plankton, a crucial pillar in our ecosystem that is slowly being destroyed.
Check out the clips from the interview below, and be sure to check back on iTunes shortly for the full podcast.
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