Free diving is not only one of the most dangerous of sports, but one of the most amazing. The Big Blue was inspired by Jacques Mayol, who in 1976 became the first free diver ever to descend 100 metres. This legend of the sport spent his life setting records and going beyond what was considered humanly possible.
Jacques Mayol circa the 1960’s
Mayol practiced yoga and developed a philosophy of the mystical and biological connections between humans and dolphins, but he also embraced the free-wheeling life of a jet-setting playboy in the heady sunshine of the ’60s.
Dolphin Man, directed by Lefteris Charitos, is the first nonfiction film to dive into the revolutionary man himself. It documents his time, his obsession with dolphins, diving, ocean conservation, his increasingly eccentric personal life, as well as the legacy he has left behind. In 2001 Jaques Mayol commited suicide in in Capoliverie, Elba at the age of 74.
The film includes interviews with friends, family and free-diving champs like William Trubridge and Mehgan Heaney-Grier, and the vast beauty of the ocean is explored through fascinating archival footage and breathtaking present-day underwater cinematography.
The producer of this film, Ed Barreveld is based in Toronto. Dolphin Man was funded in part by the Canadian Media Fund and narrated by Jean-Marc Barr, who played Jacques Mayol in Luc Besson’s The Big Blue .
Dolphin Man opens in Toronto for one-week engagement November 9 – 15, 2018 at the
Carlton Cinema – 20 Carlton Street (at Yonge St.), Toronto.
