Synopsis

Blackfish tells the story of Tilikum, a performing killer whale that killed several people while in captivity. Along the way, director-producer Gabriela Cowperthwaite compiles shocking footage and emotional interviews to explore the creature’s extraordinary nature, the species’ cruel treatment in captivity, the lives and losses of the trainers and the pressures brought to bear by the multi-billion dollar sea-park industry.

This emotionally wrenching, tautly structured story challenges us to consider our relationship to nature and reveals how little we humans have learned from these highly intelligent and enormously sentient fellow mammals.

Read the original article that inspired Blackfish director Gabriela Cowperthwaite here.

If you missed our live Twitter Q&A with Gabriela then you can catch up on all the tweets via Storify.

While in London Gabriela also gave a talk at the Apple Store - the podcast can now be downloaded from the iTunes Store.

Watch a clip of Blackfish director Gabriela Cowperthwaite and producer Manny Oteyza speaking to Dogwoof about the Blackfish journey:

A mesmerising psychological thriller with a killer whale at its centre, Blackfish is the first film since Grizzly Man to show how nature can get revenge on man when pushed to its limits. Blackfish tells the story of Tilikum, a performing killer whale that killed several people while in captivity. Along the way, director-producer Gabriela Cowperthwaite compiles shocking footage and emotional interviews to explore the creature’s extraordinary nature, the species’ cruel treatment in captivity, the lives and losses of the trainers and the pressures brought to bear by the mulit-billion dollar sea-park industry.

International Festivals the film has screened at so far:

Sundance Film Festival 2013 - World Premiere, USA

True/False 2013 - USA

Miami Film Festival 2013 - USA

Sundance London 2013 - European Premiere, UK

Hot Docs 2013 - Canada

Green Film Festival Seoul 2013 - Asian Premiere, South Korea

Cinemambiente 2013 - Italy

Docville 2013 - Belguim

SheffieldDoc/Fest - UK

AFI Docs 2013 - USA

Moscow Film Festival, Russia

Melbourne Int’l Film Festival - Australia

Dokufest - Kosovo

Athens Int’l Film Festival - Greece

Filmfest Hamburg - Germany

Rio de Janeiro Int’l Film Festival - Brazil

Sitges Film Festival - Spain

Blackfish Soundtrack on iTunes