A reckless sailing expedition to Antarctica, done on a hand-built gypsy boat crewed by a band of wandering miscreants. Featuring the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

Interview with Writer/Director/Producer Nico Edwards

Poster title: Riding out a 100 + mile per hour hurricane of ice in the Ross Sea...for 3 days.

Congratulations! Why did you make your film?

Much like the character Ishmael in Moby Dick, I was finding myself growing grim about the mouth with nothing much in particular to interest me onshore, so like him I decided to run off and see the watery bits of the world. Through sheer luck and a classified ad, I found a very eclectic and visually interesting community of itinerant ocean wanderers who reside on a giant all manuel, handmade sailboat right out of the 1970’s, drifting around the massive global commons of the Pacific Ocean, on a never ending voyage of nomadic exploration. I wanted to broaden people’s perspectives about what kinds of lives are possible, and it seemed like a story worth sharing.

Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?

The sheer amount of recklessness and risk required, without funding, rescue insurance, permits, or common sense; months at sea, no heater in one of the coldest places on earth, going up against a hurricane force storm of ice in the ross sea in a non ice-reinforced sailboat, assisting radical environmentalist commandos fighting illegal whalers, tearing every sail we had, and destroying much of the boat, including losing the engine and breaking the main mast... all just for the sheer joy of it. Alll shown in brilliant super high quality HD with lovable characters and a fantastic soundtrack. Not a voyage likely to be repeated again any time soon.

Sea Gypsies: The Far Side of the World - preparing to depart Auckland - Crew in high spirits getting ready to head South from New Zealand

How do personal and universal themes work in your film?

Though the settings and visuals are dramatic, this is a story about characters and relationships. On a personal level this is a story about people living in very very close/cramped quarters with each other (not being able to properly clean themselves) for months on end. In such miserable and inescapable circumstances people develop a bond that is rarely found outside of such dramatic settings as war or captivity, brothers sharing a fox hole sort of existence, where you keep each other alive, and are also each other's sole source of entertainment. On a universal level this voyage is a quest for awe, to feel small and humbled by the raw power of the natural world; those brief...or not so brief moments when we feel truly alive, and sense we are part of something much larger and more important than ourselves.

How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development and production?

The whole thing was made on the fly, it’s a roughly one year expedition boiled down to 77 min, or 46 min depending on which version you see. We had no idea what the story would be when we started out, but we had an idea that owing to the extreme goals and overall recklessness of the expedition, if we didn't all drown we would probably have a great story. There is also a 12 hour rough cut...for the really dedicated fan.

What type of feedback have you received so far?

From Audiences it’s been incredibly positive, we recently won best feature film at Lookout Wild Film Festival, and it’s been licensed by BANFF on Tour and Ocean Film Festival on Tour for a 2 year run screening in over 40 countries. That being said, it’s not a film that appeals to many of the gatekeepers of the media world, such as advertisers and networks, due to the language, adult themes, drinking, chain-smoking, overall reckless nature and the slightly illegal action of going to Antarctica without any permits or insurance ( we paid our fine), so it’s been a struggle to get it seen broadly. But this is a story about foul mouthed pirates and we’re not trying to make some sort of bland soup that is acceptable to everyone. We have also been lucky that so many well known musicians were excited enough by the rough cut to lend their music to this project and even want to be on board for the next expedition.

Sea Gypsies: The Far Side of the World - Danny on bow - Making our way through an ice-field at Cape Adare Antarctica at the mouth of the Ross Sea.

Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?

We’ve been surprised how the film appeals to such a large segment of the population, originally we just thought that it would only appeal to restless people who want to escape life by running away to sea, but we have seen all types at the screenings and they all have curious questions, even if they don’t all want to join up. We have also taken out the nudity to get into more festivals haha, so we’re not completely inflexible.

What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?

We would really like to get some sort of interest in distribution, but also just expand the audience.

Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?

We have so far screened or are screening at about 20 film festivals worldwide and will likely add to that, but more than anything we would love to figure out how to get the film on more platforms so that it is available to be seen by more people, we really have very little idea what we are doing, in all honesty.

What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?

This story has a clear environmental message woven throughout the entire film and we hope that wrapping such a message in a heavy drinking, chain smoking action/adventure package will help it reach past the typically environmental film fan, willing to sit through what is often rather depressing and preachy...though we love those films ourselves.

Sea Gypsies: The Far Side of the World - Ship tilting - Our snowman was slowly washed away by the storms.

What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?

One of the key issues we struggled with in making this film and crafting our massage was the dilemma of promoting exploration of the last truly wild places. To protect them, people need to care about them, they need to see wild places for themselves, but in doing so they will likely cease to be wild, and may be loved to death. Someday soon it won’t be just the super wealthy or super reckless who make it to Antarctica.

Would you like to add anything else?

Thankfully the wild places we highlight are incredibly cold, dangerous and hard to reach, so hopefully they will remain wild to all but the most dedicated or reckless for some time yet. This was also a very green expedition, which can’t be said of many other expeditions to the area, where everyone arrives on a massive cargo plane or cruise ship. We traveled on the wind (only using our engine for ice situations) and got our electricity from a large array of solar panels on our roof. We took only images (and seawater via the heavy flooding) and left nothing but a few footprints.

What are the key creatives developing or working on now?

We are preparing to make a sequel film, where the same cast and crew attempt to sail further north than anyone in history, and over Canada to the Northern most inhabited settlement on earth. It’s a non scientific expedition to raise awareness of the insanely rapid demise of the polar ice cap, as well as raise awareness of the threats posed by non sailing vessels in such a fragile region...it’s also just a damn fine adventure for its own sake. We’re calling it “Sea Gypsies: The NorthMost passage” We head north July 2018. We also have arguably the most famous climber alive coming with us this time, Conrad Anker, star of the Sundance audience award winning film “Meru”. Though we aren’t sure what he will climb yet, he saw the premier and wanted to come along, and we have a hard time recruiting people for some reason, so we don’t turn people away often.

Interview: January 2017

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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela

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Sea Gypsies: The Far Side of the World

A reckless sailing expedition to Antarctica, done on a hand-built gypsy boat crewed by a band of wandering miscreants. Featuring the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

Length: 77 min & 46 min

Director: Nico Edwards

Producer: Nico Edwards

Writer: Nico Edwards

About the writer, director and producer: Nico is a self taught filmmaker from a small town in Northern California. Along with directing, producing, and writing the film, he also shot it and edited it...and pretty much everything else, just learning as he went. He seeks to tell compelling character driven stories of people living creative and alternative lifestyles and broaden people's perceptions about life's possibilities.

Key cast: Clemens Gabriel Oestreich, Ayac Wanderer, David Bowie, Nico Edwards,

Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists): Yes please, we had almost no budget making the film, and don’t have a budget for PR, so it’s a word of mouth campaign

Funders: Telluride Mountainfilm (grant), the crew of the sailing vessel Infiinity

Made in association with: The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

Where can I see it in the next month? The film is on tour with the BANFF Mountainfilm and will be playing in over 40 countries over the next year or so, including next month.

https://www.banffcentre.ca/world-tour-locations

Starting in March, it will also be touring the world in the Ocean Film Festival, starting in Australia

http://oceanfilmfestivalworldtour.com/

Other than that please join the mailing list on our website to find out when it will be be playing near you. It will be in a bunch more film festivals, and we are currently trying to figure out distribution, so hopefully one day it will be available more widely.

https://www.seagypsiesmovie.com/