Speakers

Photo/Video

Film Festival

Saturday

8:00PM-10:00PM

Annie Crawley, also known as Ocean Annie, is an award-winning filmmaker, underwater photographer, author, and ocean advocate. For more than 30 years, she has explored the world’s oceans with cameras in hand, documenting life beneath the surface to inspire global audiences. Her work has been featured in publications and broadcasts worldwide, and she creates multimedia programs to deepen our understanding of the ocean as our planet’s life source. A member of the Women Divers Hall of Fame, Annie holds a master’s in communications from the University of Washington. She leads Our Ocean and You, a campaign designed to connect people—especially youth—with the sea. Her latest documentary, The Island of the Shark: Guardians of Malpelo, follows a fearless team protecting sharks in Colombia’s Eastern Tropical Pacific. Through film, science, and storytelling, Annie invites us to become the voice of the ocean—and take action to protect it.

Photo/Video

Film Festival

Saturday

8:00PM-10:00PM

Growing up along the banks of Colorado's Cache la Poudre River I perfected the art of toad catching and river swimming at a very early age. Days on the river consisted of rafting, swimming, and finding the biggest toad, frog, or snake possible as a gift for my mother. Fortunately, life has changed very little since then. The only difference now is my camera.

Over the years my love for rivers and the slimy and scaly critters that inhabit them has turned into a passion to help conserve them. I feel truly fortunate to have grown up in such a wild place and hope that my work fosters a greater appreciation for these environments and supports the actions to help keep them free and wild. I strongly believe that promoting awareness through visual storytelling can have a large impact in conservation. If people can see what they are saving, they may see a real reason to act.

With a background in freshwater ecology much of my work focuses on creating imagery that offers a unique look into the secret worlds that reside below our rivers and streams. Working with Freshwaters Illustrated, a non-profit that uses film and photography to educate the public on a variety of freshwater topics, I hope to inspire curiosity and help to encourage everyone to get out and explore their local river. 

As the movement to conserve and restore rivers continues to gain momentum worldwide I hope my images will help motivate a new discourse in the way we all view rivers. With all of us having some connection to a river, the power to introduce communities to their aquatic neighbors may become fundamental in the movement to conserve these wild environments. 

Photo/Video

Film Festival

Saturday

8:00PM-10:00PM

Erick Higuera, a Mexican marine biologist, wildlife cinematographer and National Geographic Explorer, is internationally recognized for documenting wildlife in the Mexican Pacific. For over 25 years, he has explored the waters surrounding the Baja California Peninsula, Guadalupe Island, and Revillagigedo National Park, specializing in capturing natural history sequences of marine megafauna, including orcas, giant manta rays, sharks, and whales. His visual work has appeared in top-tier productions from the BBC, Nat Geo, Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV, and more, including the world-renowned documentary series “Shark”, “Blue Planet II”, "Mammals”, "Planet Earth III”, "Our Oceans”, "The Americas”, and the multi-award-winning film "Ocean with David Attenborough”, released in 2025. 

Erick is also an associate member of Pelagic Life (https://www.pelagiclife.org/miembros), a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting marine wildlife in the Mexican open ocean through visual awareness and sustainable ecotourism. In September 2022, he was named a “Sea Hero” by Scuba Diving magazine for his work combining cinematography with marine conservation and citizen science.

As a marine scientist (researchgate.net/profile/Jesus-Higuera-Rivas) and co-executive director of Conexiones Terramar  in La Paz, Baja California Sur, since 2003, he has conducted scientific research on the oceanic manta ray and its life cycle through photo-identification monitoring and satellite tagging in key regions such as the Revillagigedo Archipelago and the Gulf of California. 
Currently, in collaboration with a team of marine scientists, conservationists, fishermen, and non-governmental organizations, he is producing film sequences that incorporate research on the natural history of orcas and their hunting strategies in the Sea of Cortez. He collaborates with initiatives such as Orcas México (https://www.orcasmexico.org/) and Manta Pacífico (https://www.facebook.com/mantapacifico/) to expand knowledge with crucial information to help local governments create effective management plans and codes of conduct to regulate excessive tourism, with the goal of preserving these species in this region.

Photo/Video

Film Festival

Saturday

8:00PM-10:00PM

Howard and Michele Hall are perhaps best known for their underwater IMAX films.  In 1994 Howard directed the first underwater IMAX 3D feature, Into the Deep.  In 1998 Michele produced and Howard directed the IMAX feature Island of the Sharks.  In 2005 they returned to the IMAX 3D format by directing and producing Deep Sea 3D which was awarded Best Picture at the Giant Screen Cinema Association Conference and Best Large Format Film at Wildscreen 2006.  In 2009 the Hall’s released Under the Sea 3D.  This film won best cinematography at the Giant Screen Cinema Association Conference in 2009 and Best Documentary at the International 3D Society in 2010.  Howard was director of underwater cinematography for Primesco Productions’ Lost Worlds, MacGillivray Freeman Films’ The Living Sea, the IMAX 3D feature Return to Hubble, and was underwater cinematographer for MacGillivray Freeman’s Journey Into Amazing Caves.  In 2002 Howard was underwater sequence director and Michele was location manager for MacGillivray Freeman’s IMAX feature Coral Reef Adventure, a film in which both are featured on camera.  The Hall’s latest IMAX film, Secrets of the Sea 3D, was released in 2022 and was a coproduction between Howard Hall Productions and Oceanic Research.

Of the five highest grossing 3D films produced by IMAX Corporation, two were directed by Howard Hall.  Into the Deep has earned box office receipts of over $70 million and Deep Sea 3D has earned over $96 million.

Between them, Howard and Michele have won seven Emmy Awards.  Howard has produced and/or directed many award winning natural history television films including a National Geographic Special which he co-produced with Michele, and four episodes of the PBS series Nature.  Howard also directed and Michele produced the award winning five-hour series Secrets of the Ocean Realm for PBS.   The Hall’s most recent film, Soul of the Ocean, is a 78-minute feature length film that was finished in 2022.

Howard holds a BS degree in zoology from San Diego State University.  He is a member of the Directors Guild of America and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Michele is a Registered Nurse and holds a B.S. degree in Health Sciences.  She is a member of the Television Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Women Divers Hall of Fame.

Photo/Video

Film Festival

Saturday

8:00PM-10:00PM

Jeff Hester is an award-winning wildlife cameraman, IATSE Local 600 camera operator, SOC associate member, Explorer’s Club member, former Rolex Scholar, and licensed drone pilot. I currently freelance as a camera operator for a variety of companies including Netflix, BBC, Apple, Disney+, and National Geographic.

I'm fortunate to be based in Southern California where I have an incredible ocean backyard to explore. This has allowed me to rack up quite a bit of underwater time (over 1200 hours on rebreather and over 4000 open circuit dives) which I think is crucial for staying sharp and being comfortable in a hostile environment.

Photo/Video

Film Festival

Saturday

8:00PM-10:00PM

 

Jennifer Sellitti is the Managing Member of Atlantic Wreck Salvage and the captain of the company’s dive vessel, Tenacious. She leads dive expeditions, conducts historical research on both active and prospective projects, oversees side-scan sonar operations, and directs the team’s public education efforts on the importance of shipwreck discovery and responsible salvage.

Jennifer has participated in the discovery of several previously undocumented shipwrecks, including the 1855 French passenger steamship SS Le Lyonnais, the WWI-era fishing trawler ST Seiner, the U-53 casualty SS West Point, and the bow of MV Stockholm, the vessel that collided with and sank Andrea Doria, among others. She organizes and leads regular expeditions to dive sites along the Eastern Seaboard and has provided surface support on international expeditions to SS Andrea Doria, Titanic’s sister ship HMHS Britannic, RMS Lusitania, and other deep-water wrecks far offshore.

A diver and U.S. Coast Guard–licensed captain, Jennifer is an associate member of the Boston Sea Rovers and a trustee of the New Jersey Maritime Museum. When not at sea, she practices criminal
defense law.

Her first book, The Adriatic Affair: A Maritime Hit-and-Run Off the Coast of Nantucket (Schiffer Publishing, March 2025), chronicles the sinking of the nineteenth-century passenger steamship Le
Lyonnais. The epilogue documents D/V Tenacious’s 2024 discovery and exploration of the wreck’s final resting place.

Jennifer inherited Atlantic Wreck Salvage and Tenacious from her partner in life and wreck diving, Captain Joe Mazraani, following his death in July 2025 during an expedition to document some of
the Georges Bank shipwrecks they discovered together. Today, she and her crew honor Joe’s legacy by pursuing undiscovered shipwrecks and maritime history with the same passion, strength, and tenacity that defined his life and work.

Photo/Video

Film Festival

Saturday

8:00PM-10:00PM

Steven Lopez and Dr. Carmen Obied are award-winning underwater cinematographers, maritime archaeologists, and co-founders of Explorers Photography. They approach the ocean as a living archive, combining scientific methods with artistry and cinematic storytelling for ocean preservation and advocacy. Trained as scientific and technical divers
(AAUS, GUE, TDI), their work focuses on building visual records that connect ecosystems and show their change over time.
Carmen began her career diving on ancient shipwrecks in the Mediterranean. She holds a PhD in maritime archaeology, specializing in photogrammetry and geospatial mapping of ancient maritime cultural landscapes, trade routes and wreck sites across the Mediterranean, Levant, and Red Sea. This expanded into her underwater cinematography and creative storytelling work, documenting wildlife and climate-change across the Arctic, Antarctica, Amazon, and California’s kelp forests.
Steven began his career as an avid diver, passionate about artistic ocean photography and his local marine environment around Catalina Island. His interests gradually expanded into the evolution of maritime navigation which led him to studying at the University of Southampton and later MIT. Holding a MSc, Steven’s work now spans across ancient shipwreck sites, remote river systems, and polar waters, having dived and documented fragile underwater ecosystems, from the Amazon to the Arctic and Antarctic regions.
Their photography, cinematography, and research work have been featured through partnerships with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHMLA), Honor Frost Foundation (HFF), Blue Green Expeditions, University of Southampton, British Film Institute (BFI), and British Museum, along with awards and recognitions from Dive Photo Guide (DPG), San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibit (SDUFEX), DPG’s United Nations (UN) World Oceans Day, Shark Trust UK, and Backscatter. Their work has also been exhibited in various fine-art galleries in Los Angeles.