Cannes

Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau, was born May 6, 1938 and is a French explorer, environmentalist, teacher, and filmmaker. He has produced over 80 documentaries and now working on a number of international environmental initiatives including Ocean Futures and Ambassadors of the Environment. Cousteau appeared at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival to promote his nearly finished film ODYSSEA 3D, which reveals an up close and personal look at the under water world today and effects of environmental change. Cousteau first began diving with his father in 1945 when he was seven years old and has been diving ever since. To him, “diving is freedom.”

ODYSSEA 3D is co-directed by Jean-Michel Cousteau and the Mantello Brothers. Entertainment Films produces the tribute to Cousteau’s father Jacques Cousteau, the renowned oceanographer and director of 1956 Palme d’Or winner “The Silent World”.

You're at Cannes with the movie in the market and you are hoping for it to premier here next year?

Yes. This new film ODYSSEA 3D will hopefully be completed by the end of March. We hope to make this entrance at Cannes next year to celebrate The Silent World's 60th anniversary, the first show that my father made. From that point of view, it is a pleasure to be here.

When did you start environmental filmmaking with your father?

I've always been on expedition with my father, mother, late brother and the members of the Calypso and have never stopped. I have produced over 80 documentaries and was very much involved with my father and his production companies. Since he left us I created Ocean Futures, a non-profit company which has nothing to do with the leftover of my father's company because I had to make sure I was going to be able to honor his philosophy. That's why we are doing Ocean Futures.

You grew up doing this work with your father so in a way diving and filming were second nature to you. Was there a time or a moment you can remember that you actually really fell in love with your work?

No. I'll tell you one thing, I am looking forward to the next dive all the time like a kid. Diving is freedom. Do you know that every astronaut has to be a scuba diver first? That's how they experience being weightless. Everybody can do it. People worry about claustrophobia but the only thing you have to learn is to breathe with your mouth.

Ocean Futures is an environmental initiative. Can you speak about what your team is doing?

I can tell you we are doing everything we can with the little team I have with representatives between France, the US and Brazil. We do education programs, lecturing, film production, and what I call trying to be a communicator for decision makers; diplomacy, if you want to call it that. That allows me to sit down with big industries and with presidents all over the world to help them realize that, “Okay, you have a mission but by the same token, you have a family and children so you care about the environment and the ocean. There are things you can do. Perhaps you didn't know but we are here to help.” After I showed my film on the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands in the middle of the Pacific, president Bush saw the debris of plastic pieces and baby birds that were dying. Bush cared about this Northwestern Hawaiian Island, and declared them a marine national monument, which was at the time the biggest protected piece of ocean in the US. And that's all it took was to show on film and to say, “You can help Sir.” And I did the same thing with then president of Mexico and on and on.

What about environmental issues and your work in the Amazon region?

We try and have made progress in the Amazon in some ways but it is difficult. My daughter is very much involved in that. We will see where it goes, but there is a lot more to be done. You have to be very careful at the same time because when you talk about the Amazon, which is as big as the continental US or as big as Europe, there are nine countries involved; although Brazil is only 65% of it. All the sources of the Amazon are in all those countries and we need to reach them, which I am trying to do but not very successfully so far. Peru, for example, is a big concern of mine. For every gallon of oil that you get you need 10 gallons of water and they pump the water from the Amazon. Unlike the US where you have to clean the water before you put it back anywhere, in Peru you don't have to. So, that polluted water is back in the river and that's when the local people, many of them with no identity papers or land ownerships, drink it and get sick, the fish they catch are sick, the birds that catch the fish are sick, and the birds are being caught by wild creatures. Everybody is dying. So, we can change that. What we are trying to do, because I don't want people to think we are preaching, is to entertain but in that process we can teach by showing them something nobody has ever seen before. Then people can start to see that they can do something or maybe want to learn more. We are very much focusing now on education material which will come with ODYSSEA or shortly after ODYSSEA.

When you tour different countries you are teaching master classes and holding lectures?

We have a program which is called Ambassadors of the Environment that goes to a lot of schools. I have a team that train the people and so on. I have another program which is called Sustainable Reefs which goes in tropical parts of the world, islands particularly, and needs sponsorship for someone to adopt a country. That adopted country could be 100,000 people, one million people or more, depending on where you are on the planet and what size that nation is. We have had a lot of people who are contributors to make that happen because you have to create the documents, multiply it by the number of school kids and teachers and then go and distribute it and that costs money. We are doing it and we want to do a lot more.

How can people get involved to help?

You should go to: (http://oceanfutures.org) where you can become a member. It's free because I didn't want children to ask money from their parents to become members. They can ask us questions to see what we are doing and if they want to, they can contribute to one or some of our many projects. They can do it and any level they can afford. We've had some really amazing people who have helped us on this.

Official Site: http://oceanfutures.org

On facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jean-Michel-Cousteaus-Ocean-Futures-Society/92486697079

About ODYSSEA 3D: 60 years after his father, ocean pioneer, Jacques Cousteau made the world discover life under water with the ground-breaking documentary Silent World (1956 Palme d’Or winner), his son Jean-Michel Cousteau takes you on a journey through the Ocean like you’ve never seen it before – in 3D. Jean-Michel has been exploring Earth’s oceans for nearly 70 years and now, with revolutionary equipment, he brings to the 3D screens a break-through look at a secret world within the Ocean. Cousteau, alongside his two children, Celine and Fabien, embarks on an adventure, bringing us into this whole new world that will leave audiences in awe of the beauty and diversity found within the world’s oceans – the source of all life on our planet, inspiring an even stronger desire to protect what they will truly be seeing for the first time.

Interview by Vanessa McMahon; interview on May 17, 2015.