Video In memory of Rob Stewart

In memory Of Rob Stewart ❥ 1979-2017 by Angedelile

We're inviting people to leave messages of condolence, support, and solidarity for Rob Stewart's family, friends and colleagues here. Thank you. 

ISLAMORADA, FLA. — The family of Toronto Rob Stewart says his body was "found peacefully in the ocean" Friday after he disappeared this week while diving off the coast of Florida. A Facebook post by Stewart's sister Alexandra asked for privacy in order to grieve. "There are no words," the post said. "We are so deeply grateful to everyone who helped search, and happy that Rob passed while doing what he loved." His death was also confirmed by a publicist for the director.

The U.S. Coast Guard said a body was found Friday about 90 metres from where Stewart, 37, was last seen. It did not immediately confirm whether the body discovered was Stewart's. Rob was last seen Tuesday when he had just returned to the surface after a dive about 70 metres down near Alligator Reef in the Florida Keys. Stewart's diving partner lost consciousness as he got into the dive boat, his sister previously told The Canadian Press. Coast guard Capt. Jeffrey Janszen said as others tended to that man and gave him oxygen, Stewart disappeared, and his family believes Stewart may have lost consciousness as well.

Rob Stewart (December 28, 1979 – January 31, 2017) was a Canadian photographer, filmmaker and conservationist. He was best known for making and directing the documentary films Sharkwater and Revolution. He died at the age of 37 in a scuba diving incident while in Florida filming Sharkwater: Extinction.

Stewart was born in 1979, in Toronto, Ontario, where he was raised. He began doing underwater photography as a teenager, and became a scuba-diving trainer when he was eighteen years old. He attended the prestigious Crescent School in Toronto, Ontario, Canada as a youth.

For four years, Stewart worked as chief photographer for the Canadian Wildlife Federation's magazines, and also worked as a freelance journalist. He won awards for his journalism.

Stewart held a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Western Ontario, and studied zoology and marine biology in Kenya and Jamaica.

Stewart got the idea to make the movie Sharkwater at age twenty-two, when he found illegal long-lining in the Galapagos Marine Reserve. He travelled through fifteen countries for the next four years, studying and filming sharks, and going undercover to confront the shark fin industry.[3] Sharkwater went on to win more than 40 awards at top film festivals. His follow-up film, 2012's Revolution, builds on Sharkwater, examining environmental collapse. In 2013, it was the highest grossing Canadian documentary, and it received 19 awards from global film festivals. In 2016, Stewart launched a Kickstarter to fund Sharkwater: Extinction, a sequel to Sharkwater that would focus on the 80 million sharks killed per year that are unaccounted for by scientists. He was working on the film at the time of his death.[5]
Awards and nominations

Stewart has won more than 40 awards for Sharkwater and ten for Revolution, and was nominated for dozens more including the Hawaii International Film Festival, the Gen Art Film Festival, the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival, and the Atlantic Film Festival. In 2006, he won the Special Jury Award for Documentaries, the Spirit of the Independent award, the People's Choice award for Best film, the Jury award for Best Documentary, and the Audience Award for Best film. The following year, he won the Audience and Best Feature awards at the Gen Art Film festival. In 2008, he received a Genie Award nomination for Best Documentary. He also received a Genesis Award for Outstanding Documentary, and an Environmental Vision award at the 35th annual Vision awards; held in Los Angeles, in 2008.

Music : Sia - Angel By The Wings Piano Karaoke Instrumental


In Loving Memory
Rob has been found, peacefully in the ocean. There are no words. We are so deeply grateful to everyone who helped search, and happy that Rob passed while doing what he loved. We are working on how best to honour his incredible work. The Stewart family kindly asks that they are given some private time to grieve.
Thank you everyone.
http://www.sharkwater.com/

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A “wall” of shark images to honour Rob's memory on Facebook

Rob Stewart devoted his life to sharks and their conservation. Shortly after his tragic death, Simon Rogerson of Scuba Magazine suggested that we should create a “wall” of shark images to honour his memory on Facebook. Wetpixel would like to take this idea one stage further, and are seeking submissions from anyone who wishes to take part in a Full Frame feature of shark imagery devoted to Rob Stewart.

If you would like to contribute images, please email us. Please do not attach images, we will provide details of how to get the images to us by return of email. Thank you in advance.

Wetpixel

Wetpixel is the premiere community website dedicated to underwater photography and videography. With up-to-date news, articles, gear reviews, photo contests, and dive expeditions, Wetpixel is a strong, focused community of over 20,000 underwater photographers.

Wetpixel is owned and published by Eric Cheng and edited by Adam Hanlon.

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Beautiful video tribute to Rob

My Hero. My inspiration. The planet lost an amazing human being and ally. Rob left us while doing what he lived for, documenting the beauty of our ocean to raise awareness about the urgency to protect it. Your voice will grow louder in the actions of all of the many that you inspired. It was honor to have met you. A true larger than life figure. We can only hope to honor your memory by continuing your work on conservation, your passion and love for the ocean and your unparalleled devotion for sharks. You inspired and moved a generation. We are grateful for your invaluable contribution. My thoughts are with you. your family and friends.. Godspeed. I will miss you my friend. Rest in peace.

TRIBUTE ROB STEWART from Pablo Garcia on Vimeo.

TRIBUTE ROB STEWART

Sally McIntyre

Il y a 1 semaine

Beautiful tribute. I love the use of the Steve Jobs quote, one of my favourites. Well done!

Stephane Barbier

Il y a 1 semaine

RIP Rob STEWART.

OceanArtist BobTimmons

Il y a 5 jours

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Very sad and huge loss for the oceans

Hi Bruno,

Very sad and huge loss for the oceans. Condolences to his family and friends.

When I started with Sea Shepherd in New Zealand the first event we did was showing Sharkwater which was then well established as thee shark conservation movie. Three years later shark finning was banned in New Zealand waters with a fair bit of effort from NZ NGOs including Sea Shepherd. This happened in many other countries around the world at a similar time and I believe your friend and son and his ground breaking film was a major contributing factor. Now people knew. You must be so proud of him and the positive changes he made. The young marine conservationists in my country that Rob inspired and motivated will be the legacy he leaves here and I’m sure in many other countries around the world. Sharks are now cool and no longer the monsters they were once perceived to be. I never met Rob but as you know he replied with a very generous offer for us to show Revolution in NZ. Thank you so very much Rob Stewart, thanks for helping to save the sharks.

Regards

Michael Lawry

+64 (0) 21 747861

Managing Director

Sea Shepherd New Zealand

michael@seashepherd.org.nz

www.seashepherd.org.nz

facebook.com/seashepherdnewzealand

Twitter: ‏@SeaShepherdNZ

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I was deeply impressed by Rob's passion, commitment, and message

Hi Bruno, 

I don't know if Brian will remember me, but I was at Rob's launch party at Cannes and got to spend some time getting to know Rob and Brian. I was deeply impressed by Rob's passion, commitment, and message. I'm honored to be featuring Revolution in this year's festival. With the state of our country, his film could not be more important. My thoughts, prayers, and condolences go out to Rob's family and friends. 

All my best, Benjy

BENJAMIN C. OBERMAN

President / CEO

MouseTrap Films, LLC | Film Festival Flix | Mountain & Adventure Film Festival

4730 Woodman Ave, Ste 304 | Sherman Oaks, CA 91423

Benjamin@FilmFestivalFlix.com | www.FilmFestivalFlix.com

www.Facebook.com/FilmFestivalFlix | www.Twitter.com/FestivalFlix | www.YouTube.com/user/FilmFestivalFlix

Conference: (605) 475-4825 code: 345163#

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We'll do all we can to advance his conservation message

Hi Bruno,

All of us send our deepest condolences and are crushed at the news.  That very day I had just watched Passion for Planet which featured Rob.  I hope someone will eventually take up the work of finishing the sawfish film on Rob's behalf.  

We wanted to let you know that the American Conservation Film Festival posted this entry on our Facebook page on February 4th.

We are saddened to hear of the death of conservation filmmaker Rob Stewart, the filmmaker of Sharkwater in 2006, which shed light on the importance and beauty of sharks and their decimation due to the practice of finning. His powerful film, Revolution, screened at our 2015 Festival. He was working on a film about sawfish when he died while scuba diving. 

We added a link to Outside Online's obituary as well.   

Hope you and Rob's family will take comfort in knowing we'll do all we can to advance his conservation message.

With sympathy,

Hilary Lo

American Conservation Film Festival

PO Box 889

Shepherdstown, WV 25443

www.conservationfilm.org  

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Very sorry for the loss!

Dear Bruno,

We are also very sorry for the loss!

Thank you for keeping in touch.

Best

Petra

www.bifed.org

facebook/bifeddoc

twitter: @bifed_doc
instagram: @bifed_doc

Member of GFN: http://greenfilmnet.org/

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I will always be grateful to Rob for his work

Hi Bruno,
I was deeply saddened by the news. I actually heard about it from one of our attendees and supporters. I had told her about Sharkwater one month ago, as I tell everyone about the film. She went on to watch, and then in turn told others. Her circle of friends are people operating at a very high level in the business world, as is the case with many of our attendees, and so I like to think the ripples from the festival can magnify above and beyond what the average person might be able to do. She had not been aware of shark fining prior to seeing the film as, really, neither had I.

You might say that Sharkwater, and Rob, are part of the reason the festival happened, as I never meant to start one. I saw a film that seemed so important I thought it should be shown here. I went on to find six films that told a story of what is happening in the oceans today, which is how I came across Sharkwater. I rented the local theatre and dove in, without really knowing what I was doing, and have only taken a handful of days off since. That was eight years ago. People asked if I would take the films to Hilo, then to Kona, then Maui and O'ahu, and then on tour around the mainland, and around Canada. Someone commented at the first showing that there was no hope, and so I started to get up to point positive before each film, to give people a positive framework within which to absorb the content, and started to get standing ovations on the introductions themselves.

Before Sharkwater, I stood up to talk about the PR stunt that Richard Leakey pulled in the 80s, of inviting media from all over the world to a massive bonfire of illegally poached ivory. The conventional wisdom at the time was to sell the confiscated ivory for funds to purchase weapons to fight the poachers. But, he burned it all instead -millions of dollars worth - and spoke to the global media about poaching and what the ivory trade was doing to elephants. Demand for ivory in Europe and the U.S. immediately halted, which was the primary demand at the time, and the trade, and poaching, came to an end (although.. is up again due to demand in Asia). It's a story of what can be accomplished when people understand.

After showing the films nine times, I decided to re-focus on a single event here on this coast, understanding who is here, and who spends time here, and what a difference they can make - leaders throughout the business and financial worlds, really. Through the course of the initial showings, I saw Sharkwater nine times. It was my favorite of the early films and one of my favorite of all the films I've shown. I still tell people about it all time - I've told hundreds and hundreds of people about the film at this point and I imagine they continue to share with others as well. It changed forever my understanding of sharks, in addition to bringing awareness of the shark fining issue. It was an extraordinary film, as Rob was an extraordinary person. I'm sorry we were not able to have him join us here.

Should his parents and/or sister wish to join us sometime, I would be honored to have them join us, and to show the film again, and have them talk about the work he did and his plans and what he hoped to do with his next film. Perhaps we could continue his work in some small way then, although it is a great loss for the world to have had him go so soon, and I can hardly imagine their loss now.  I would add that we've had a similar tragedy in our small community in the town of Waimea, when a young man passed out diving and was also lost, at the age of 24. He was with a group of many friends, but none of them could reach him or help, as they were free diving, and noone was able to reach him. His mother and sister have been volunteers with the festival since the beginning, and his story has been a part of our community here.

Please extend my condolences to his family, and let them know the offer stands should they every wish to consider. I can hardly imagine their loss. I will always be grateful to Rob for his work and would love to continue to share what he has done. It is a tremendous loss for everyone. Thank you for reaching out.
Kind regards,
Tania

Tania Howard
Founder and Director
Waimea Ocean Film Festival
PO Box 6397 Kamuela, HI 96743
808.960.9744 tel   808.882.1820 fax
tania@waimeaoceanfilm.org   www.waimeaoceanfilm.org

Follow us on Facebook
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Ocean Film Fest Inc., dba Waimea Ocean Film Festival, is a 501(c)3 organization. 

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Rob was a heroic defender of our planet and its natural world

Dear Mr Chatelin,

We're shocked and deeply saddened by the loss of Rob Stewart, a heroic defender of our planet and its natural world. We hope that his great works and achievements will keep him alive in the hearts and minds of all these people that he worked, educated with and inspired the most all these years including all these festival audiences and festival organizers that hosted, saw and awarded his films. 

We would like to express our sincere condolences to his family,  his colleagues and his friends all over the world.

Sincerely

Ilias Missyris 

Culture co-ordinator, Vaasa Wildlife Festival producer

Vaasa, Finland

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A life lived in service to all life

Dear Bruno and friends and family of Rob Stewart,

We are deeply saddened to hear about Rob.

His amazing vision, talent, curiosity, and passion for the planet are an inspiration to people around the world.  His films are a beautiful legacy and will continue to educate and be celebrated by many. 

I am very honored to have shared his work through screenings and will continue to share via our VOD film platform and as opportunities present. 

Heartfelt prayers for Robs friends and family during this time of tragic loss. Thank you for the opportunity to forward our sincere condolences and appreciation of a brilliant, creative life well lived - a life lived in service to all life.

Warmest Regards,
Cynthia LaGrou

 

Films for the Planet

Compathos Foundation

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I recognized Robs innocent kindness very much

Dear Bruno

a message from Switzerland:

I recognized Robs innocent kindness very much. It is a loss not to have him anymore here and in this times. I wish the family of Rob strength and many friends in this unexpected happening. In sadness:

Kai, Films for the Earth

Filme für die Erde
Kai Pulfer, Leitung
Steinberggasse 54
CH-8400 Winterthur --> Map
- - - 
Skype: kaipulfer 
- - -
+41 (0)52 202 25 53
+41 (0)77 420 63 69
- - - 
mail@filmefuerdieerde.ch
- - -
www.FILMEfuerdieERDE.org
- - -
social:
Facebook | YouTube | Myspace  | Flickr | Twitter | Google + | Xing

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Rob was an inspiration to me

Bruno Rob was an inspiration to me!

I remember the first time I saw Sharwater 10 years ago. He leaves us with an incredible legacy! He will b ein my heart forever. I am so sorry I never had a chance to meet him

Paula Icaza 

Member of the Red Cross in Guayaquil Ecuador, currently involved in new Projects regarding beach safety and ecological education.

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Thank you for bringing his wonderful work to our attention

I am beside myself that Rob Stewart is missing. Thank you for bringing his wonderful work to our attention re The Revolution. We sent out prayers and well wishes for him to be found safe.

Thanks,

Susan Johnston-Founder/Director www.NewMediaFilmFestival.com

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