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David Nicholas: The Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Alpena is preparing to once again host their International Film Festival. This year, 2026, marks the 14th year, and it kicks off tomorrow, runs through Sunday, this Sunday the 25th. The first two nights will be spent in Rogers City and Harrisville before films make their way down to Alpena. I had a chance to speak recently with Thunder Bay's Stephanie Gandulla to get a preview of what's coming up.
The student competition and their overall involvement, are we opening up to even more grades or at least more entries than we've seen before as we go into year 14?
Stephanie Gandulla: Well, engaging students is really one of my favorite parts of the Thunder Bay International Film Festival, and we do that in two ways. Number one, leading up to the event, we will do what we call festival sneak peeks. And that's when we take the festival, a small bit of the festival, to local schools, to area schools. In fact, we're traveling further and further every year. And so we'll bring, some of our team will go take these films. And then the most fun part of that sneak peek experience is talking about the films with the students.
So, they're immersed in issues happening across our ocean and Great Lakes, learning about different cultures that live on coastlines around the world, learning about new species of sharks and whales that are thriving in our ocean and Great Lakes or the issues that they're facing. But then they're also learning about different careers in ocean and Great Lakes that they may have never even considered before.
And then, of course, there's the student film competition. And if you want to see the fruits of that, come Saturday at 3 p.m. That's a free event in Alpena at the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center. And that's where we get to see the top contenders in that student film competition.
DN: Always central to the event are the very prominent themes looking at both Great Lakes preservation and impacts of climate change. What films this year are focusing in on those two aspects?
SG: Oh gosh, we have nearly 75 films this year showing across the five days, and some of my favorites really focus on challenges in the Great Lakes ecosystem, such as restoring the sturgeon. There's a number of films that are focusing on sturgeon restoration projects. One in particular is called “Dinosaur Fish,” and we're showing that Friday night during the Great Lakes Gala. And then we also have some films diving into the rich maritime history of the Great Lakes on Saturday morning at 10 a.m.
You can learn about Thunder Bay's Underwater Museum with a newly released film from Detroit Public TV's Great Lakes Now. There's also a great film called “Protected Waters: Acid Trip,” so a fun name, but that's about freshwater acidification studies here in the sanctuary and also ocean acidification studies in a different sanctuary, the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
DN: Any films in the mix this year that take us to any parts of the world that have not yet been featured?
SG: Another wonderful part of the film festival is it really allows you to travel our ocean and Great Lakes blue waters without leaving the warm theater.
So, from the comfort of the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center Theater, you can travel to Alaska and learn about marine debris collection efforts in Alaska. You can travel to the Congo and understand some of the maritime heritage there. You can travel to other national marine sanctuaries, such as Nia Bay, which is in the heart of Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. So, it's a really wonderful way in the depth of winter to travel the world.
DN: Congratulations to you, Stephanie, and all there at Thunder Bay on the 14th year for this event. All the best for the festival coming up very soon. And once again, congratulations and good luck with that.
SG: Thanks very much, David.
DN: Stephanie Gandulla is with the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Alpena. I caught up with her late last week. The festival gets underway in Rogers City and Harrisville tomorrow runs through Sunday.
Learn more at thunderbayfriends.org.
