Elfenworks Film 'Tammy Hall Reflections' Selected for Ocean Festival

Ocean Film Festival, Savannah GA, September 23-25, 2006

We are thrilled to announce that Tammy Hall: Reflections is an official selection of the 2006 Gray's Reef Ocean Film Festival. A selection from the film which includes ocean footage shot in Hawaii and New Caledonia was screened in September 2006. The festival literature describes the footage as 'what a jazz pianist sees when she looks to the ocean for inspiration.'

About the Ocean Film Festival

The Third Annual Savannah Ocean Film Festival is the first film festival to be sponsored entirely by a national marine sanctuary. It presents ocean-themed films to educate, inspire, and foster a spirit of ocean stewardship with films that explore our relationship to the sea, the coastline, islands and the estuarine environments. This festival is put on solely by the NOAA's Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary, and there is no charge to the public to attend any of the films screened.

About the film

Tammy Hall: Reflections - In this film of jazz favorites and original compositions, the musical artistry of jazz pianist Tammy Hall (captured live in concert at the famed Yoshi's Jazz House) is combined with cinematography by the elfenworks team and visuals by master editor/animator Tim Schaller. The blending of Hall's performance with dream-like imagery invite you to escape into a world of visual metaphor inspired and driven by the emotional qualities evoked by the themes of the music. "Tammy Hall: Reflections," directed by Lauren Speeth, received 2006 Summit and Telly Awards, and was selected by KCSM 91.1 as a thank-you gift for its 2006 member pledge drive. More information about this film is available in our film detail page and the film's many press releases including festival notices and awards.

About the Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary

Designated in January 1981, this marine sanctuary is one of the largest near shore live-bottom reefs in the southeastern United States. The sanctuary is located 17.5 nautical miles off Sapelo Island, GA, and is one of 13 marine sanctuaries that make up the National Marine Sanctuary System. Within the 17-square-nautical-mile sanctuary, there are both rocky ledges and sandy flat places. The reef's rock ledges, submerged beneath 60 to 70 feet of water, can be as tall as 6-8 feet and are highly complex-they have nooks and crannies and bumps and plenty of places for invertebrates to latch on to and for fish to hide in. Together these animals form a dense carpet of living creatures that in places completely hides the rock. That gives the habitat of Gray's Reef its common name-a "live bottom". The live bottom and ledge habitat support an abundant reef fish and invertebrate community. Loggerhead sea turtles, a threatened species, also use Gray’s Reef year-round for foraging and resting, and the reef is within the known winter calving ground for the highly endangered Northern Right Whale. NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuary Program seeks to increase the public awareness of America’s maritime heritage by conducting scientific research, monitoring, exploration and educational programs. Today, NOAA’s sanctuary program manages 13 national marine sanctuaries and one coral reef ecosystem reserve that encompass more than 150,000 square miles of America’s ocean and Great Lakes natural and cultural resources. NOAA’s National Ocean Service manages the NMSP and is dedicated to exploring, understanding, conserving and restoring the nation’s coasts and oceans. NOAA’s National Ocean Service balances environmental protection with economic prosperity in fulfilling its mission of promoting safe navigation, supporting coastal communities, sustaining coastal habitats and mitigating coastal hazards. NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of our nation’s coastal and marine resources.