Join the Salt Spring Film Festival as they screen Blackfish, a documentary described by Variety as “a mesmerizing psychological thriller with a bruised and battered killer whale at its center.” Do you remember Tilikum? The killer whale was a star attraction at British Columbia’s Oak Bay Sealand from 1983 to 1992 until he was shipped out to SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida. The sale took place shortly after the tragic death of a trainer, Keltie Byrne, who slipped and fell into the pool. Although Tilikum was officially exonerated from the death, eye-witnesses tell a very different story. And as filmmaker Gabriela Cowperthwaite discovered, this was not to be the last human death associated with the bull orca.

The brutal conditions in which he has spent most of his life have made him into a lethal threat to those people who love him most – his trainers. Meanwhile SeaWorld insists there is nothing to be concerned about and continue to propagate self-serving myths about the orcas. Featuring testimonies from experts and trainers, Blackfish artfully and powerfully explores the complex relationship between the sensitive, intelligent orcas, the trainers who care for them, and the marine parks that exploit them both.