2021 Diver of the Year – Victoria Stone & Mark Deeble

Victoria Stone and Mark Deeble are world renowned wildlife filmmakers who have lived and worked in East Africa creating ground-breaking stories for over 30 years. Their films celebrate biodiversity and the inter-connectivity of the natural environment, and they have dedicated their lives to bringing awareness of the fragility of nature to audiences around the globe. This husband and wife team produce ‘authored’ films – they both direct, film, produce and write their own work. They are respected for their ability to immerse themselves in their subjects – typically living on location with a small, dedicated team for 2 years to shoot each film. They are both accomplished divers and pilots, and loving parents who brought up their two sons while living in remote wilderness sites throughout Africa. Their films have garnered more than 100 international awards and they have received numerous prestigious honors for their contributions to wildlife film making, earth science and on behalf of the wildlife on land, and within the sea. Awards include Emmys®, Peabodys®, Griersons, and numerous Best of Festivals including Jackson Hole, and the UK Documentary awards. The Wildscreen Festival, the world’s leading international festival for nature films, has also presented numerous awards to Deeble and Stone throughout the years, including Best Cinematography and ‘Green Oscars’, and in awarding their Golden Panda award for the best film of the festival for “A Little Fish in Deep Water”.

 

Mark and Vicky’s filming and choice of subject has always been driven by conservation and their passion for the natural world. The couple build outreach and educational programs around their films which include translating the films into other languages, donating the broadcast rights to the countries in which they are made, and working on the ground with local conservation groups. They’ve recently completed their first feature, the award- winning “The Elephant Queen”, which became the first feature film to be purchased and released by Apple plus.  Their now-classic wildlife film “Mzima: Haunt of the Riverhorse” was awarded Gold at the prestigious Peabody Awards. This evocative documentary combined powerful storytelling with uncompromised production values and specialist cinematography that took audiences into the underwater realm of two of Africa’s most dangerous animals, the hippopotamus and the crocodile. Filmmakers Mark Deeble and Victoria Stone spent two years documenting the remarkable way in which a family of hippos brought life to Kenya’s crystal-clear Mzima spring. Using cutting edge diving techniques and an underwater camera system they devised, Deeble and Stone chronicle the intimate behavior of these animals, much of it new to biologists. Their film reveals the intricate pyramid of life supported by the hippos and the astonishing animal behavior hidden beneath the surface of Mzima. A seemingly simple story, this visually stunning documentary resonates well beyond the banks of an oasis in the African bush to link all nature.

Whether at risk from being attacked by cobras or stomped on by elephants while entombed for 12 hours a day baking beneath the brilliant African sun, lying still in a man-made tunnel within inches of submerged hungry hippos, or flying above a vicious sandstorm searching for the lone runway buried beneath a layer of dust, this dynamic duo have been risking their health, and sanity, for over three and half decades to capture images others could barely comprehend. For this, and so much, much, more, it is with great pride that the Boston Sea Rovers award our 2021 Walter Feinberg Memorial Diver of the Year Award.

The inscription on the Paul Revere silver bowl reads:

Victoria Stone and Mark Deeble

Passionate Conservationists & Visionaries Creating Breathtaking Images that Capture the Glory of Wildlife About, and Within, the Wild Waters of Africa

Boston Sea Rovers
Boston Sea Rovers