[Coral-List] 'Tangerine Reef' film to commemorate the IYOR 2018

[Coral Morphologic]

Dear Coral Listers,

Coral Morphologic is proud to present *Tangerine Reef*, an audio-visual
collaboration with the band Animal Collective to commemorate the 3rd
International Year of the Reef.

Free to stream here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCup2fmAUuk&t=1380s

Like the seminal 1982 film Koyaanisqatsi scored by Philip Glass, Tangerine
Reef serves as a visual tone poem. But instead of time-lapses of cities,
landscapes, and people, Tangerine Reef consists of time-lapse and slow pans
across surreal aquascapes of naturally fluorescent coral and cameos by
alien-like reef creatures. Tangerine Reef is the sight and sound of a
literal underwater collective of animals.

As a band, Animal Collective walks the walk when it comes to ocean
conservation, having previously done projects supporting marine protection
areas and shark conservation. Geologist (Brian Weitz) has a masters degree
in environmental policy from Columbia University with a focus on the marine
environment. As an undergraduate, he spent a semester working at the
infamous Biosphere 2 Center in Arizona, assisting on some of the first CO2
acidification studies on coral growth inside its captive ‘ocean’.
Following his masters degree, he had a marine policy fellowship with the US
Senate Subcommittee on Oceans, Fisheries, and Coast Guard. Deakin (Josh
Dibb) is also a passionate scuba diver who has dived throughout the
globe. He and Weitz have taken at least one scuba trip together every year
since 2005 and have directly witnessed the destruction of the world’s coral
reefs by bleaching events, fishing trawlers, and dynamite fishing. Proceeds
from *Tangerine Reef* will be donated to The Ocean Foundation's Coral Reef
Initiative, Oceana, and Project Coral UK at the Horniman Museum. One of the
more common questions heard in coral conservation circles today is "How can
we do a better job engaging the public with the importance of healthy coral
reefs to the point of inspiring greater environmental action from local to
global scales?"

Rather than create another doom-laden documentary presenting humans as
corals' only hope, we decided to eschew a humanist narrative, and instead
present these organisms in a fashion that encourages an empathic response
from the viewer to identify with the alien creatures on screen. Nearly all
bodily functions relatable to humans are presented. In order to promote the
most meaningful environmental response to the global coral/climate crisis,
Coral Morphologic believes that developing empathy across species-lines
serves to increase biophilia and thus concern for all life on Earth. It is
often suggested that people are only willing to save what they understand,
so please feel free to show this film in classrooms or anywhere people
might find captivation with the macro-level world of the coral reef.

Cheers,
Colin Foord
Coral Morphologic <http://www.coralmorphologic.com>
Miami, FL, USA