THE WHALE LAGOON
…is the feature-length documentary film we are now producing for global distribution. The film is about saving the most pristine gray whale nursery on the Pacific Coast of Baja California Mexico – about 500 miles south of San Diego. While the story unfolds at a place known to few, it touches upon many universal emotions and themes: the deep connection between humans and other creatures, the unexpected triumph of the weak over the strong, and the power of people to persevere across generations to protect nature and save themselves.
FILM TEASER 2021
MAKING THE FILM
In late 2019, Jacob Scherr and Franco Campos-Lopez collaborated on a 3-minute promotional video for a documentary about Laguna San Ignacio. Just a few weeks before the start of the pandemic in March 2020, Franco presented the video at a reception for the Washington, DC Environmental Film Festival at the Mexican Cultural Institute.
Encouraged by the positive response, Jacob recruited Clate Korsant to join the project as a Producer. In June 2020, Franco, Jacob and Clate began working on the documentary in earnest.
We have made remarkable progress in spite of the pandemic. Franco traveled with a film crew to Laguna San Ignacio five times, and he filmed interviews in Mexico City, California, Washington, DC, and New England. We have now gathered more than 50 interviews and 150+ hours of archival materials.
In March 2022, Franco and his team will return to the Laguna for the final two weeks of filming. They will be shooting amazing human-whale interactions and capturing the voices of young people carrying on the work of protecting The Whale Lagoon.
Our plan is to complete filming this Spring and to have a feature-length documentary ready for initial viewings by early 2023. As part of the broader “Who Saved the Whale Lagoon” project, we also plan to create other video products and platforms to reach different audiences on different aspects of this multilayered story.
