国家/Country：新西兰/New Zealand
时长/Duration：17分钟/17min
制作人/Filmmaker：Tess Brosnan
类别/Category：海洋文化，海洋生物/Ocean culture, marine life
电影简介/Film Synopsis：
坐在崎岖的高山上眺望新西兰的库克海峡，一队不寻常的老年平民“科学家”正在观察着座头鲸的迁徙。他们正在为一项名为“库克海峡鲸鱼计数”的科学研究做着观测。这项研究目的是研究自从1964年新西兰禁止捕鲸后新西兰的座头鲸数量的恢复情况。这些志愿者们之所以这么善于观察鲸鱼，是因为他们不仅是新西兰两百年捕鲸文化中的后代，而且他们也都曾经是捕鲸人。
Sitting high on a rugged hilltop looking out over New Zealand’s Cook Strait, an unusual team of senior ‘citizen scientists’ keeps watch for migrating humpback whales. They’re spotting for the Cook Strait Whale Count a study into the recovery of New Zealand’s humpback population since the end of New Zealand whaling in 1964. These volunteers are uniquely skilled in watching whales: Not only are they descendant of New Zealand’s 200-year history of whaling, they were all once whalers themselves.
Whale Chasers shares the voices of these dedicated characters who have traded harpoons for pencils and notepads, and is described by reviewers as “one of few films where the bloody history of whaling is reconciled with modern sensibilities and aesthetics”. Pirates, conspiracy, life-and-death on the high seas: Whale Chasers is not for the light of heart, but about the heart of whale conservation.
