A quick chat with Céline Cousteau on Mission Blue Voyage
Documentary filmmaker Céline Cousteau is the granddaughter of Jacques Cousteau; her interests and heritage put her in a unique place to bridge the gap between ocean science and ocean lovers.
"My grandfather took me out diving when I was 8 or 9," she says. "When I got certified a few years later, I rediscovered my connection to the ocean." She talks about this formative experience in the companion book to the Disney film Oceans, which comes out mid-April. "That chapter comes from a personal, emotional standpoint. The only way to tell this story was to speak from an experiential point of view."It's an approach she takes in her ocean advocacy as well. "I'm trying to pull ideas out of each person, ideas and emotion. To have them go from 'Hmm that's interesting' to 'Hmm, that's interesting and I want to be part of it.' You have to make it personal.""You could call it intercultural relations," she laughs. "I'm fascinated with how people relate to nature and the ocean. It's in part what I studied, in part who I am." (She has a masters in international and intercultural management). In her work as a documentary filmmaker, she interacts with scientists around the world, telling the stories of people doing great science on the ground, far from the spotlight. "Those are the heroes, whether it's the scientist who's out taking water samples or the technician working in a lab. I'm not that person -- I translate that person."