Okko’s online cinema hosted an exclusive premiere of the documentary Whales: Guardians of the Planet by French director Jean-Albert Llevre. In the center of the plot is a humpback whale that has thrown itself into the ocean. A large group of enthusiasts are immediately led to save the animal. Together they try to prevent the mammal from dying. The film was distributed in Russia by Russian World Vision.
“French director Jean-Albert Lièvre takes the private history of the whale as a framework to tell about his relatives, their habits and amazing abilities. By illustrating the story with incredible images of underwater life filmed around the world, Llevre takes the viewer on an incredible audiovisual journey.
Filming took place in Greenland, Mexico, Argentina, Polynesia, Britain, the Mediterranean Sea, Normandy, South Africa, Australia, Tonga, Kamchatka, Antarctica, Norway, and Hawaii. According to the director’s idea, the voiceover belongs to the whales and they talk about themselves in the first person, Okko’s representatives explain. For Russian-speaking viewers, the film was played by actor Sergei Burunov.
The film’s soundtrack is made up of pre-existing compositions from various genres, from jazz to energetic synth-pop, rock, hip-hop, rap and art songs. Among them you can find the work of the famous Icelandic film composer Johan Johannsson, who created the music for most of Denis Villeneuve’s films, or a track from the latest album by legendary Canadian musician Leonard Cohen.
Let’s remember that since July 1, cartoons by Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli appeared in Okko. These include Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away. We talk about it in more detail here.
