Sylvia Earle: The Return of the Whales
Identical Media provided permits, location scouting and logistics support for the Mauritius shoot of Sylvia Earle: The Return of the Whales, a premium feature documentary from Open Planet Studios and Ocean Science Expeditions.
The film follows the pioneering oceanographer Dr Sylvia Earle who, in her tenth decade, returns to the water for a global expedition across five ocean basins to discover how the world’s whales are changing. Mauritius features in the film’s present-day chapter, where Dr Earle dives with the island’s resident sperm whales.
Identical Media secured the filming permit for the underwater sperm whale work, the most complex part of the production to clear in Mauritian waters, scouted and locked the land-based locations, and provided the filming vessel for the crew. The shoot itself was run by the Open Planet team, including director Jonathan Gwyn Hughes, producer Edward Hunter Charles, assistant producer and safety diver Natasha Busjeet, and expedition leader Keith Tuffley.
Mauritius and Sperm Whales
Resident pods of sperm whales live off the west coast of Mauritius year-round and spend much of their time at the surface, which makes the island one of the more accessible places in the world to film them. Learn more about sperm whale filming in Mauritius.
