Blue Velvet In Sinai – Moondance Festival Best Documentary Feature Winner 2012
This Moondance Award-winning 4-part series (for Best Documentary Feature) has been made with Ric O’Barry 
(Oscar winner for ‘The Cove’ in 2010). It is the very beautiful story of a solitary dolphin who turns up on the coast of a fishing village in the Sinai desert, Egypt. The Bedouin there are ‘challenged’ in speech and hearing. The dolphin, whom they name Olin, changes their lives and village life forever. She has a baby and that further develops this powerful story of love, interspecies connection and humankind’s involvement with its natural world. Ric O’Barry and other dolphin specialists share profound scientific and other knowledge about dolphin healing and why it is important to keep these precious creatures out of captivity. The story in the Sinai is the microcosm of a greater global picture that unfolds throughout the series.
You can support these important environmental issues by watching the series online at www.bluevelvetinsinai.com
Directed by Gulrukh Khan / Shaun O’Connor
Executive Producer: Anton Kammerl / Post Executive Producer: Alex Zadah
Underwater DOP: Stefanie Voigt
Underwater Camera Assistants: Erez Gonen / Udi Nuri
from Gulrukh Khan, Director:
I was honoured to receive the award along with Executive Producer Alex Zadah in New York in September 2012 from Elizabeth the founder of the festival. Episode 1 got shown twice at Tribeca Cinema in the heart of fashionable Tribeca in Lower Manhatten. We stayed at the Tribeca Grand overlooking the Freedom Tower which was a great experience. The staff took every measure to make our trip enjoyable. New York is so dynamic…everything moves fast there. I hope that the damage from Hurricane Sandy will soon be sorted and things get back to normal.
The highlight was receiving the award on a yacht over brunch, especially as the film was about underwater life. It made me realise how much people are trying to care for the Oceans and how they love dolphins. 
I collected the award on behalf of Ric O’Barry too…and the dolphins! It was a shame the rest of my crew could not attend – but they were with me in Spirit through the whole journey… Special thanks for all their wonderful support during the making of the series.
Next year Elizabeth English hopes to hold the Moondance Awards in the UK…either London or Ireland…and has asked me to co-join in producing the festival. Its a fab festival, supporting everyone who has something to say on a socially or environmentally conscious level. I hope we get a lot of support from film-lovers. Blue Velvet In Sinai on Facebook
Another great piece of news – Spirit2Power has just been selected to be shown at FIRSTLIGHT Academy screenings at The Maui Film Festival in late November 2012. I have always wanted to go to Hawaii, near the whales and the volcanic island scenery – so it looks as though the dolphins and whales are following me around 
Spirit2Power on Facebook
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Click on the image to enlarge