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Ten years ago, filmmaker Louie Psihoyos was researching ocean degradation when he crossed paths with activist Ric O'Barry, the man responsible for training TV's most famous cetacean, Flipper. Together they went undercover to expose the captive dolphin industry; what they witnessed off the coast of Japan became The Cove, winner of the 2010 Oscar for best documentary. "I really started out doing the movie I'm doing now," says Psihoyos, "and on the way I got distracted by Ric O'Barry's mission. But I'm glad we stumbled on The Cove's story...

Sophia Bush is absolutely stunning at a cocktail reception honoring director Richard O'Barry on Saturday (March 3) in Los Angeles.

The 29-year-old One Tree Hill actress wore a gorgeous silk linen sleeveless Katharine Kidd cocktail dress to the event!

Earlier in the week, Sophia spoke out in support of gay marriage, saying that she believes the rights battle is "absolutely" a civil issue.

Sophia also went to Chateau Marmont this past week for a fun night out!

Starring: Richard O'Barry, Brook Aitken, Joe Chisholm

Director: Louie Psihoyos

The Scoop: This winner of the 2010 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature explores the political, legal and moral ramifications of Japan's extensive culture of dolphin hunting. That's right, some people in Japan hunt -- and then eat -- dolphins. We're still waiting for the follow up about the harvesting of meat for their lucrative baby unicorn burger industry.  Needless to say, this hasn't proven popular in Japan.

Special Features: Commentary, deleted scenes, trailer, featurettes

Rated PG-13, 92 min. | Watch the trailer...

Musician Tommy Lee recently wrote a letter to Terry Prather, President of SeaWorld, as a response to SeaWorld's announcement that they would no longer allow trainers to have any personal contact with Tilikum, the orca whale involved with the death of three people. Lee, citing the support of PETA, expressed confusion and outrage over SeaWorld's latest decision, claiming trainers "masturbate" the whale with "a cow's vagina filled with hot water." He accused SeaWorld of not releasing the whale because it is their "chief sperm bank." Lee wrote: Even during my wildest days with Motley Crue, I never could've imagined something so sick and twisted. Simply put, how can SeaWorld claim that trainers no longer have direct contact with this whale when they are jacking him off?

SeaWorld was quick to respond to the Motley Crue drummer's allegation, as a SeaWorld representative told TMZ, "The process of collecting semen for [artificial insemination] doesn't...

Filed under: Documentaries, Movie News, Cinematical

Activist Ric O'Barry has been crusading against dolphin captivity for more than forty years, but it was the Oscar-winning documentary 'The Cove' that really put him and his cause in the public eye. The 2009 film depicts a mission in which O'Barry and a team of fellow preservationists went to Japan to capture footage of dolphin slaughter and raise general awareness of an illegal fishing operation in Taiji, Wakayama. Since then he has also had a mini-series on Animal Planet in which he returned to the titular Taiji cove and also exposed a similar dolphin trade in the Solomon Islands. Now according to Deadline, the former trainer and actor will get to have his whole life unveiled on the big screen in a biopic from 'Poseidon' producers Mike Fleiss and Chris Briggs along with Ric's son, Lincoln O'Barry, who produced and directed that Animal Planet series.

Filed under: Documentaries, Movie News, Cinematical

Activist Ric O'Barry has been crusading against dolphin captivity for more than forty years, but it was the Oscar-winning documentary 'The Cove' that really put him and his cause in the public eye. The 2009 film depicts a mission in which O'Barry and a team of fellow preservationists went to Japan to capture footage of dolphin slaughter and raise general awareness of an illegal fishing operation in Taiji, Wakayama. Since then he has also had a mini-series on Animal Planet in which he returned to the titular Taiji cove and also exposed a similar dolphin trade in the Solomon Islands. Now according to Deadline, the former trainer and actor will get to have his whole life unveiled on the big screen in a biopic from 'Poseidon' producers Mike Fleiss and Chris Briggs along with Ric's son, Lincoln O'Barry, who produced and directed that Animal Planet series.

Exclusive: Mike Fleiss, who created The Bachelor and other reality hits before branching into films, has acquired feature film rights to the life story of Richard O'Barry. He is the dolphin preservationist and the central figure in the Oscar-winning documentary The Cove. O'Barry started his career training the dolphins that starred in the TV show Flipper. When one of them died in captivity--and maybe had lost its will to live--o'Barry began a life long quest to free dolphins from captivity. He came to the forefront in the documentary, in which director Louie Psihoyos covertly filmed the carnage in a cove in the small former whaling village of Taijii. Fisherman annually herd thousands of dolphins into the cove, and slaughter them in a frenzy that actually makes the waters run blood red. The film created a global uproar. Fleiss and Lincoln O'Barry will produce under Next Films and BayRock Media, and...

Filed under: TV Replay

Ric O'Barry is a former dolphin trainer who gained fame in the 1960s. He captured and trained the dolphins who played the title character in the popular television show 'Flipper.' But according to O'Barry, he turned against his former career when one of his captured sea mammals committed suicide.

The tragedy occurred when a dolphin intentionally held its breath until it died, expiring while Ric held the creature in his arms. This made Ric realize that it was cruel for humans to use the animals for their own purposes. Since that time, he has crusaded on the part of dolphins. O'Barry has spent over forty years trying to free dolphins from captivity, and also trying to end the practice of killing the animals in the wild.

 

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Ric O'Barry, who appeared in the Oscar-winning film, delivers petition signed by 1.7 million people to Us embassy in Tokyo

The star of an Oscar-winning film about dolphin hunting in Japan delivered a petition to the country's Us embassy calling for an end to the practice.

Ric O'Barry, 70 – who appeared in The Cove and trained dolphins for 1960s TV show Flipper – was flanked by police and dozens of supporters carrying banners. The petition was signed by 1.7 million people from 151 countries.

O'Barry had hoped to deliver it to the Japanese fisheries agency but cancelled the plan after threats from a nationalist group with a history of violence. The Cove, which won this year's Oscar for best documentary, shows fishermen from the town of Taiji who scare dolphins into a cove before killing them slowly by piercing them repeatedly.

O'Barry said: "I'm not losing hope. Our voice is being heard in Taiji."

The...

82nd Annual Academy Awards Best Documentary Feature winners for The Cove; Louie Psihoyos and Fisher Stevens backstage with Paula DuPre Pesman and Ric O'Barry

Photo: Todd Wawrychuk / A.M.P.A.S. With last week's release of The Tillman Story and A Film Unfinished, Oscar Doc season is officially in full swing. A perfect time to make some early predictions for the five films that will battle out for this year's Academy Award for best feature documentary.

The Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary has been one of the most difficult competitions to handicap over the years for several reasons. The rules were often confusing and the nomination process was quite unfair prior to 2002. That's when the Academy finally made significant changes based on the large number of complaints from both filmmakers and the public at large. Up until that time decisions were made by a handful of people and...

If you still haven't seen the Oscar-winning documentary The Cove after all the attention we've given it, I don't know what to tell you other than ... here's another recommendation for you to watch the film, which exposes the annual dolphin slaughter in Taiji, Japan. Both shocking and entertaining, director Louie Psihoyos (and producer Fisher Stevens) presents the cause with a narrative resembling that of a spy thriller. And now it's about to make its network TV debut on Animal Planet. The doc will premiere this Sunday (August 29) at 9pm, appropriately in the middle of a marathon of Whale Wars.

For those of us who have already seen The Cove and want updates, Animal Planet is also presenting a three-part series titled Blood Dolphin$, which follows activist Ric O'Barry, the star of the film, and his team on new missions to save dolphins in Taiji and other parts of the world.

For many, the image of dolphins is linked to the TV series "Flipper," in which a dolphin was the friend of a young boy. The "smile," the antics, the good-natured sounds all made people want to see these beautiful creatures close up. And his involvement with the series is also former dolphin trainer Ric O'Barry's greatest regret and led to his life's passion of dolphin rescue.

— Elaine Bergstrom, Channel Guide Magazine...

This Friday, Animal Planet will premiere Blood Dolphins, a show inspired and created by the makers of the Academy Award-winning documentary The Cove. In the documentary, Ocean Preservation Society co-founder Louie Psihoyos and dolphin trainer-turned-activist Ric O'Barry teamed up to expose the secret annual slaughtering of 20,000 dolphins in Taiji, Japan. Now, O'Barry and his son O'Barry have developed a three-part TV miniseries to continue spreading their message. I spoke with the father-son duo about their mission, their Ocean's 11-style setup, and bringing their cause to TV.

TV.com: Can you tell us what to expect from the new...  More >>...

The documentary The Cove won an Academy Award and highlighted the plight of dolphins in the Japanese fishing village of Taiji, but the activist featured in the film says his work is far from done.

It continues in Animal Planet's new series Blood Dolphins (premiering Aug. 27, 11/10c), which follows Ric O'Barry, Flipper trainer and The Cove's lead activist, and his son, filmmaker Lincoln O'Barry, as they continue their mission to save dolphins from slaughter in Japan.

Read More >...

A court in Japan has banned protesters from demonstrating at a cinema where bosses plan to show controversial documentary The Cove, about the slaughter of dolphins in the country.

Louie Psihoyos and Ric O'Barry's film follows a group of activists as they struggle with police and fishermen to gain access to a secluded cove in Taiji, southern Japan, where dolphins are hunted.

The film angered local fishermen, who argue dolphin hunting is part of their culture, and they slammed the covert techniques employed by the filmmakers.

Protesters took to the streets of Tokyo earlier this month to fight The Cove's presence in Japan, forcing initial screenings to be cancelled in fear of noisy boycotts.

The Yokohama New Theater, a small cinema near Tokyo which planned to go ahead with showings beginning 3 July, was specifically targeted by demonstrations.

However, the Yokohama regional court issued an order on Friday that has silenced angry mobs, and showings are scheduled to go on at the venue as planned.

Tokyo -- Dolphin activist Ric O'Barry urged Japanese theaters on Tuesday to screen Oscar-winning documentary "The Cove," despite threats from groups who see its footage of dolphins being slaughtered as an affront to traditional culture.

O'Barry, a former dolphin trainer who is in Japan to promote the film, told Reuters Television that the cancellations were an "assault on democracy."

"This is not North Korea. It's not China and it's not Cuba. It's a democratic society. There's a very small minority of radicals who are going to theater owners and threatening them. They don't want people to see this film," O'Barry said.

The documentary, which shows dolphins being herded into a cove and slaughtered, has met with fierce resistance from some groups in Japan. Fears that protests might inconvenience movie-goers have prompted cancellations at two cinemas in Tokyo and one in Osaka, according to Unplugged, the Japan distributor.

Unplugged is still...

Screenings of Oscar-winning documentary The Cove cancelled by cinemas in Tokyo and Osaka over threat of far-right protests

Cinemas in Japan have cancelled plans to show an Oscar-winning film about the country's annual slaughter of thousands of dolphins after far-right campaigners threatened to disrupt the screenings.

Unplugged, the Japanese distributor of The Cove, said three cinemas had cancelled screenings amid fears they would be disrupted by ultra-nationalists, who have denounced the film as "anti-Japanese".

Named best documentary feature at this year's Oscars, The Cove struggled to find a distributor in Japan following protests by Taiji fishermen, who complained that it contained inaccuracies and that they had been filmed without permission.

In an attempt to placate opponents, Unplugged blurred the faces of dolphin hunters in the Japanese version, which is due for domestic release on 26 June.

But threats of noisy street protests and unspecified "acts of sabotage" prompted two cinemas in...

Louie Psihoyos and Ric O'Barry's Oscar-winning documentary about the slaughter of dolphins in Japan has been forced out of theaters in Tokyo due to ongoing protests by angry right-wing groups.

The Cove follows a group of activists as they struggle with police and fishermen to gain access to a secluded cove in Taiji, southern Japan, where dolphins are hunted.

The film angered local fishermen, who argue dolphin hunting is part of their culture, and they slammed the covert techniques employed by the filmmakers.

Protesters took to the streets of Tokyo on Friday to fight an upcoming screening of The Cove, calling on locals to boycott the film.

And their loud actions have worked - bosses at Japanese film distributor Unplugged Inc. have cancelled their planned 26 June showing in response to the backlash.

Executives at two more theatres, another in Tokyo and one in Osaka, have also cancelled screenings, meaning no Tokyo theatre is scheduled to show the film.

Unplugged chief executive Takeshi Kato revealed cinema staff had suffered harassment as a result of the protests but revealed bosses were still searching for alternative venues in Tokyo to screen the controversial documentary.

Defending the film, he tells The Brisbane Times, "The Cove is hardly an anti-Japanese movie. We believe that it's necessary to have a deep and healthy debate about the film's content."...

Louie Psihoyos' documentary The Cove won an Oscar at this year's Academy Awards ceremony, but film fans in Japan apparently won't have an opportunity to see it because theaters there have canceled the opening screenings amidst threats of protest.

The film, which chronicles the slaughter of dolphins in Taiji, Japan, has been protested by Japanese groups who defend the practice of killing whales and dolphins as part of their cultural heritage. Cinemart Theaters in Osaka and Tokyo have pulled planned screenings of the film out of fear for their patrons' safety after receiving threatening phone calls and warnings of protests from groups who view the film as "anti-Japan."

The Cove did show at the Tokyo International Film Festival last fall, but that marks the only time it has shown in Japan to date. Ric O'Barry, a former dolphin trainer who appears in the film, said "It's not right that...

Marine activist Ric O'Barry had to wear a mask to cover his face during a recent TV expose about Japan's dolphin killers - because he feared attack from fishermen who recognised him as one of the men behind Oscar-winning documentary The Cove.

O'Barry agreed to take Oprah show TV cameras back to the hamlet where The Cove is set as long as he could keep his identity under wraps.

The special, which aired as part of Oprah Winfrey's Earth Day programme on Thursday, followed up on developments chronicled in The Cove, which documented Japan's annual bottle-nosed dolphin slaughter.

O'Barry said, "The fishermen told me... 'If the world finds out what goes on here, we'll be shut down.'"

The activist confessed he feels obliged to help the world's dolphins - because he helped capture and train them for beloved TV show Flipper in the 1960s.

He revealed, "Now, if there's a dolphin in trouble, anywhere in the world, my phone will ring.

"I feel somewhat responsible because it was the Flipper TV series that created this multi-billion dollar industry."...

Dolphin trainer-turned-marine activist Ric O'Barry decided to dedicate his life to saving porpoises and whales after watching the star of 1960s TV show Flipper take her own life.

O'Barry helped to capture and train dolphins for the beloved TV show, but stopped hunting the creatures down when the star of the series stopped breathing rather than live in captivity.

The man behind hard-hitting Oscar-winning documentary The Cove, admits he's still haunted by the last moments of the dolphins life.

He explains, "She was really depressed... You have to understand dolphins and whales are not air breathers like we are. Every breath they take is a conscious effort. They can end their life whenever.

"She swam into my arms and looked me right in the eye, took a breath and didn't take another one. I let her go and she sank straight down on her belly to the bottom of the tank.

"The next day I was in jail for trying to free the dolphin - that's how I reacted to it. I was gonna free every captive dolphin I could."...

Documentary maker Louie Psihoyos got the chance to give his Academy Awards acceptance speech on late night TV in America on Monday after a sign protest at the Oscars cut his time onstage.

The Cove director had just stepped up to the microphone to speak when marine life activist and film consultant Ric O'Barry held up a sign that read 'Text Dolphin to 44144'.

Worried Oscar bosses turned cameras to the audience and cut off power to the mic onstage, rendering Psihoyos inaudible.

But, during an appearance on Lopez Tonight!, the director finally got the chance to say his thank yous for the Best Documentary, Features honour.

He said, "We made this movie to give the oceans a voice because all sea-life is at peril, from the great whales to plankton, which incidentally is responsible for half the oxygen in this room."

The hard-hitting film chronicles the efforts of activists trying to stop the slaughter of sea-life in Japan.

Why we need world film awards; a new documentary lifts the lid on the falcon trade; Mike Leigh's latest

World's best filmAfter the crushing dullness of the Baftas and the Oscars, something clearly needs to be done to invigorate awards shows. My feeling is that the Oscars should go all out for cheesy song'n'dance numbers, or get really funny and edgy and make Chris Rock the perpetual host. Then they could stop making all the black people sit in one corner, which they did last week with the Precious gang, creating surely one of the most shameful seating configurations since Rosa Parks got on that bus. Opening up the best picture nominees to 10 didn't really do much, neither making the show more populist nor more intelligent. The only category still open to surprises is the foreign language film, and that clearly needs a radical overhaul if the Oscars wish...

The team behind Oscar-winning documentary "The Cove" have successfully orchestrated a sting operation at a California restaurant they accuse of serving up illegal whale meat. Louie Psyhoyos and Ric O'Barry's movie follows a group of activists as they struggle with police and fishermen to gain access to a secluded cove in Taiji, southern Japan, where dolphins are hunted.

Days after the film won the Best Documentary Oscar at Sunday's, March 7 Academy Awards, U.S. federal prosecutors announced the producers helped to uncover an alleged violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act at Santa Monica restaurant, The Hump. According to police reports, two undercover diners working with the documentary's associate producer and "director of clandestine operations", Charles Hambleton, requested whale as part of a $600 omakase - a sushi meal in which the chef picks the dishes. The pair pocketed a sample of and gentic testing confirmed it was meat from the endangered Sei whale.

The team behind Oscar-winning documentary The Cove have successfully orchestrated a sting operation at a California restaurant they accuse of serving up illegal whale meat.

Louie Psyhoyos and Ric O'Barry's movie follows a group of activists as they struggle with police and fishermen to gain access to a secluded cove in Taiji, southern Japan, where dolphins are hunted.

Days after the film won the Best Documentary Oscar at Sunday's Academy Awards, U.S. federal prosecutors announced the producers helped to uncover an alleged violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act at Santa Monica restaurant, The Hump.

According to police reports, two undercover diners working with the documentary’s associate producer and “director of clandestine operations”, Charles Hambleton, requested whale as part of a $600 (GBP375) omakase - a sushi meal in which the chef picks the dishes. The pair pocketed a sample of and gentic testing confirmed it was meat from the endangered Sei whale.

Spokesman for the United States attorney for the Central District of California, Thom Mrozek, declined to say what charges could be brought against the restaurant, but said the office is "moving forward rapidly" and charges could come as early as this week (ends12Mar10).

The Hump lawyer Gary Lincenberg tells the New York Times, “We’re going to look into the allegations and try to determine what is true. Until we have done that, I don’t have any other comment.”

The possession or sale of marine mammals can lead to a year in prison and a fine of $20,000 (GBP12,500).

The documentary-makers exposed an alleged whale-meat smuggling operation at the Us sushi restaurant The Hump

The run-up to the Oscars are a heady time for nominees: a whirlwind of screenings, cocktails, celebrity encounters and, for the makers of this year's prize winning eco-documentary, secret meetings in the parking lot of a sushi restaurant with federal investigators.

In an action worthy of the eco-commandos of Greenpeace, the makers of The Cove, an Oscar-winning documentary on Japan's dolphin slaughter, helped break up an alleged whale meat smuggling operation at a Santa Monica sushi restaurant catering to "adventurous" eaters.

On offer at The Hump, aside from yellowtail tuna, live octopus and shrimp, and baby abalone, was what was said to be whale meat, despite a ban on the sale and possession of whales.

That went too far for Louie Psihoyos, the director of The Cove, who co-ordinated the sushi sting from the parking lot.

Best documentary Oscar winner The Cove will be adapted into an unscripted series for Animal Planet called Dolphin Warriors that continues where the film left off. The network will also be airing the film this summer. The Los Angeles Times reported that "[t]wo episodes of the series -- which is being executive produced by O'Barry's son, Lincoln -- have already been completed, although a premiere date has yet to be announced." Ric O'Barry, who's featured...

When Oscar-favorite Mo'Nique accepted her Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture she began powerfully and matter-of-factly, toting, "First, I would like to thank the Academy for showing it can be about the performance and not the politics." The actress and comedian, who wore royal blue with a gardenia in her hair emulating Hattie McDaniel from some 70 years ago, was hitting on something major: the 82nd Annual Academy Awards was a night history was made in numerous ways, and performance truly did outshine politics. For me the performance of the season was that of Ric O'Barry. Some Oscar fans may not recognize the name, but those who saw this year's winner for Best Documentary Feature, The Cove, know him as the heavy-hearted, honest hero of not only the film, but of a near life-long movement to save...

Japanese authorities are fuming after Louie Psihoyos and Ric O'Barry's expose about the slaughter of dolphins won the Best Documentary Oscar at Sunday's, March 7, Academy Awards. "The Cove" follows a group of activists as they struggle with police and fishermen to gain access to a secluded cove in Taiji, southern Japan, where dolphins are hunted.

The film beat out competition to win the Best Documentary prize, but less than 24 hours after the filmmakers lifted their Oscars, Taiji mayor Kazutaka Sangen has responded with a statement, dismissing the film and accusing Psihoyos and O'Barry of disrespecting Japanese customs.

In a faxed statement to Reuters, he writes, "I think it is regrettable that the film presents as fact material that is not backed up by scientific proof. There are a variety of customs relating to food, within this country and abroad. An attitude of mutual respect is necessary, based on understanding...

The gala crowd in Los Angeles cheered as "The Cove" won the best documentary Oscar with its grisly portrayal of dolphin hunting. Half a world away, residents of the small Japanese village shown in the film abhorred the attention and said it won't end their centuries-old tradition.In Taiji on the rocky coast of southwest Japan, residents gathered in whale eateries with names like "Tail" and rolled their eyes Monday when told of Oscar laurels for the film, which they see as yet another biased foreign take on their culture.The village of 3,500 people has been hunting dolphins and whales since the early 1600s. It calls itself "Whale Town" and has a massive pair of whale statues looming over the main road. "The Cove" refers to Taiji and its dolphin fishing as "a little town with a really big secret,&quot...

Though Fisher Stevens, producer of Best Documentary winner The Cove, kept his remarks well under the suggested 45-second limit, the orchestra played off director Louie Psihoyos just as he was approaching the microphone. "Fisher and I had this timed perfectly, with military precision, to 45 seconds, not a second longer," says Psihoyos (pictured, left). "We actually got it down to 44 seconds." Laughing, he added, "I’d spent about a week preparing and fretting over this. I would have enjoyed last week a lot more if I’d known I wasn’t going to get to speak!" (Psihoyos — whose last name rhymes...

Oscar-winning filmmaker Louie Psihoyos.

Louie Psihoyos Keeps Watch On The Cove

By

Alex Simon

When Louie Psihoyos’ documentary The Cove was released last July by Roadside Attractions, it had already gained major buzz after nabbing the Best Documentary award at Sundance, and went on to score the Best Doc prize in some of Hollywood’s most coveted arenas: The DGA Award, The PGA Producer of the Year Award, The National Board of Review, The L.A. Film Critics, and the Bfca’s Critics Choice Award. It also won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature—not too shabby for a first-time filmmaker. The Cove was released on DVD by Lionsgate in December.

Psihoyos (rhymes with Sequoias) has been one of the world’s top nature photographers for years, cutting his teeth immediately out of college by shooting for National Geographic, where he landed an 18 year tenure. His passion for diving...

Japanese authorities are fuming after Louie Psihoyos and Ric O'Barry's expose about the slaughter of dolphins won the Best Documentary Oscar at Sunday's (7Mar10) Academy Awards.

The Cove follows a group of activists as they struggle with police and fishermen to gain access to a secluded cove in Taiji, southern Japan, where dolphins are hunted.

The film beat out competition to win the Best Documentary prize, but less than 24 hours after the filmmakers lifted their Oscars, Taiji mayor Kazutaka Sangen has responded with a statement, dismissing the film and accusing Psihoyos and O'Barry of disrespecting Japanese customs.

In a faxed statement to Reuters, he writes, "I think it is regrettable that the film presents as fact material that is not backed up by scientific proof. There are a variety of customs relating to food, within this country and abroad. An attitude of mutual respect is necessary, based on understanding of the years-old traditions arising from these customs and the circumstances surrounding them."...

Zero surprises here, and though I disliked this doc, I'm peeved that Psihoyos got shafted and didn't even get to speak. What's with all this time allocated to butt end jokes opening a category over the actual award winning speeches. Ben Stiller's Na'vi thing could have lengthened three winner speeches, including this one. - The Noms: “Burma VJ” Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-møller “The Cove” Louie Psihoyos and Fisher Stevens “Food, Inc.” Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers” Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith “Which Way Home” Rebecca Cammisa Who Will Win: The Cove Who Should Win: Burma VJ Who Won: The Cove Commentary: Zero surprises here, and though I disliked this doc, I'm peeved that Psihoyos got shafted and didn't even get...

Right after Michael Giacchino, who works the anthem of "Up", exits the stage after collecting his award for Best Original Score, Gerard Butler and Bradley Cooper appear in front of the audience. They present Best Visual Effect trophy to the crew of "Avatar"; Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones.

Joe speaks on behalf of his partners, thanking director James Cameron for giving an "extraordinary inspiration." He adds, "Also, Jon Landau. Jon, you were such a champion of the film. Thank you very much for that. Everyone at Lightstorm who was so helpful. Eileen Moran and everyone at Weta Digital for your talent and creativity. John Kilkenny, all of our friends at Fox."

He then moves on to thank the film's cast, "Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, all of our great cast, thank you for trusting us with your performances. I know that couldn't have been easy.

If any dolphins were monitoring the Oscars, they had every reason to applaud when "The Cove" copped the prize for best documentary.

Accepting the award, producer Fisher Stevens made a point of thanking Ric O'Barry, the animal-rights activist upon whose efforts the film was based -- "who was not only a hero to this species, but to all species" -- and the film's director, Louie Psihoyos.

"I just want to say that it was an honor to work on this film and to try to make an entertaining film that also tries to enlighten everybody," Stevens said.

Released by Roadside Attractions and Lionsgate on July 31, the film grossed only $853,787 at the domestic boxoffice, but even before its Oscar victory, all the awards attention it has garnered combined to cast a spotlight on its campaign to prevent the abuse of dolphins.

More than just simple piece of agitprop, "Cove" tells the story of O'Barry,...

Culminating an awards-laden year that began with the Audience Award at Sundance 2009, The Cove, directed by Louis Psihoyos and produced by Fisher Stevens and Paula DePre Pesman, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary. Stevens accepted the honor we tried to make an entertaining film that also tried to enlighten everybody. Rick O'Barry whose not only a hero to this species but to all species. And just as Stevens introduced Psihoyos as "the man who came up with the idea," Rick O'Barry, the man devoted to saving the dolphins, ...

The Sea World tragedy that took the life of orca trainer Dawn Brancheau continues to wreak havoc on the typically civil world of zoology. Last night on Larry King Live, Jack Hanna once again assumed his position as spokesman for the marine biologist community and, with the help of former Sea World head trainer Thad Lacinak, debated a second round with Jane Velez-Mitchell and fended off some personal attacks from animal rights activist Ric O'Barry. The segment on whale rights more closely resembled a rerun of Crossfire than an Animal Planet special.

Documentary makers Louie Psihoyos and Ric O'Barry are to be honoured at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in California for their gripping dolphin-slaughter movie The Cove.

The honour is another Oscar boost for the pair, who are nominated for a Best Documentary Academy Award.

They'll receive the David Attenborough Award in Santa Barbara on Wednesday night.

The award is given to the top nature filmmakers.

The Cove has already won gold at the Producers Guild of America Awards, Directors Guild of America Awards and the Critics Choice Awards. It's the favourite to land an Oscar next month.

Let me begin this post with a disclaimer -- Cinematical is a site about film first and foremost, and we try not to let politics or social agendas interfere that goal. But seeing as we're in the thick of awards season and the beginning of Sundance (a festival that often dictates our year to come -- be sure to check our 2010 coverage to see what that might be!), I thought I would take the opportunity to remind you not to forget about the documentaries or films that moved you into action.

Back in September, Jenni Miller brought you the very good news that The Cove (which premiered at last year's Sundance -- you can still read Scott Weinberg's original review) had created enough awareness to stop the dolphin hunt in Taiji. It was one of those moments that proved the smallest film can make a difference. In an industry populated...

YouTube launched a paid rental service for full-length movies today in conjunction with the Sundance Festival, and one of the featured films is the must-see documentary The Cove. This doc follows former dolphin trainer Ric O'Barry as he organizes a high-tech undercover operation to try and stop the dolphin fishing in a cove off the coast of Taiji, Japan. Despite the adverse effect of dolphin-fishing on the ocean's environment, the cruelty of its practice, and even the mercury found in dolphin meat, it's a highly lucrative and politically charged industry. O'Barry, director Louie Psihoyos, and a wild assortment of divers, sound and film techs, and experts uncover what really happens in the cove, all while trying to avoid the people who want to keep the cruel truth of their industry under wraps. Read an interview with The Cove director Louie Psihoyos as part of our Docs on the Short List...

Animal Planet will broadcast the acclaimed documentary The Cove this summer. Louis Psihoyos' film debuted last year and followed former Flipper trainer Ric O'Barry's efforts to uncover dolphin slaughter in Taiji, Japan. The film is one of the 15 in contention for the best documentary Oscar, and may have impacted dolphin slaughter in Japan. It was also parodied in a South Park episode.

E1 Entertainment, cert 15, retail

It's about dolphins, but beware, there's nothing cuddly to see here, and anyone with an interest in animals will be angry and sad at the end of this documentary about Taiji, Japan, described as "kind of like the Twilight Zone" in that it has a hidden bay with a shocking secret. Central figure Ric O'Barry is a longtime dolphin trainer who worked on the TV series Flipper, and who managed to penetrate tight security to film - with the help of cameras in rocks - what goes on in a coastal village where sonar is used to disorientate dolphins and herd them up, mostly for slaughter. The final scene is gruesome and nauseating, but this is a story that needs to be told and that has already started to force change. More details at TakePart.com/The Cove.

Rating: 3/5

DVD and video reviewsDocumentaryWildlifeConservationRob Mackie

guardian.co.

An environmentalist wake-up call that plays more like a paranoid thriller, this uncompromising, exhilarating expose of the whaling industry's dirty little secret, which many are tipping as the front runner for next year's Oscar, is a head-striking apple fallen from the "We're all doomed" branch of documentary filmmaking. Heading up this team of activists and filmmakers is Rick O'Barry, a former dolphin trainer who has dedicated the latter half of his life to blowing the whistle on the barbaric, hushed-up activities of the tiny coastal town of Taiji, where some 23,000 dolphins are rounded up annually so a handful can be chosen by trainers for theme parks and the rest butchered for their meat.

It's something of a cruel irony for O'Barry that he is perhaps the man most directly responsible for the very practice he is now so desperate to stop, and one that he is all too painfully aware of.

The eco-documentary has become such a popular genre that it has spawned an industry of critics. They accuse it of being facile, propaganda or simply of making things up. Some of these criticisms are being levelled at The Cove. Each year fisherman drive dolphins into a Japanese cove where dolphin trainers the world over gather to select the best specimens. The rest are pushed around the peninsula where they are secretly slaughtered. Maybe the critics are right to jibe at anthropomorphism: dolphins may be more intelligent than humans, but most humans don't get the attention they do. And what about the fate of less telegenic species who end up on the dinner plate without sparking mass indignation? Or maybe it is the redemptive tale of Ric O'Barry that seems too neat. He was the chief dolphin trainer on the Us television series Flipper, who turned dolphin evangelist when one died in his arms.

Ric O'Barry, former Flipper-trainer-turned-activist and subject of the documentary The Cove, departed this morning for his second visit to Japan in as many weeks. It's a frequent trip for him during the dolphin-killing season that runs from September to March in Taiji, Wakayama prefecture. The focus of this trip, he said yesterday on the phone from Miami, is to keep Taiji in the news and to spread the message that the pilot whales, which are being killed despite a temporary ban on dolphin killing, are more toxic than bottlenose dolphins. "That's what this trip is all about because the dolphin hunters are playing games with us saying they're not killing dolphins anymore -- they're killing the pilot whale," he said. "Well, the pilot whale is in fact a large dolphin. Ironically, it has the highest levels of mercury. [...] They're targeting...

We can apparently add Louie Psihoyos's documentary The Cove to our list of Movies That Really Made a Difference. The secret-camera-employed expose on the slaughter of dolphins in Taiji, Japan, is getting credit, at least in part, with a stoppage of the dolphin killing, the season for which would have begun this week. Dolphin activist and trainer Richard O'Barry, who appears in Psihoyos' film, showed up to protest as usual accompanied by a group of international journalists and media crews, only to find the titular location void of fishermen. ...

Once in a while a documentary comes out that shines a spotlight on an issue that has the entire world take notice. McDonalds changed a large part of their menu after "Super Size Me," and the Green movement became a top priority after "An Inconvenient Truth." You can add another movie to that list, "The Cove," which exposed the annual slaughter of thousands of dolphins in the small fishing town of Taiji, Japan. Upon returning to Taiji, Ric O'Barry, who became an activist after his work with Flipper, noticed that "there were no dolphin killers in sight." While it's still too early to know whether the illegal activity will ever pick up again, at least "The Cove" documentary can be credited with saving several dozen dolphins. "The Cove" Trailer: If you cannot see the player, click here.

I guess movies really can change the world? One of the most talked about documentaries this year was one called The Cove directed by Louie Psihoyos (watch the trailer). The film documented a covert attempt spearheaded by Richard O'Barry (of the Save Japan Dolphins Coalition) and a group of experts to infiltrate and capture on tape the mass killing of dolphins that occurs in a secret cove in Taiji, Japan. It was talked about not only for its filmmaking aspects and riveting story, but also because it was showing the world what happens in that secret cove in Japan. O'Barry just updated a blog with some apparently incredible news. From the update on the TakePart blog yesterday written mainly by O'Barry, who is currently in Taiji with a number of major media outlets from countries like Germany, England, and most importantly, Japan: O'Barry is currently in Taiji, Japan with European...

For any documentarian who makes a film about an injustice there can't be much greater end result than seeing change take place in the real world once the film is released. This summer's doc The Cove, by Louie Psihoyos, peered into Taiji, a small Japanese village where thousands of dolphins are slaughtered each year. Ric O'Barry, the dolphin trainer and activist who brought the location to the attention of Psihoyos, returned to the site of the slaughter this week, just as the annual 'hunt' would normally begin. He found a situation that pleased him greatly. What was happening in Taiji is this: local fishermen would corral dolphins in a small cove, pick the best to be sold to trainers (prices fetching sometimes above $150,000) and then slaughter the rest. The meat would then be sold in Japan, often labeled as another animal. Dolphin meat is often tainted by far more than...