Five Questions for Filmmakers: The Edge

We reached out to our festival filmmakers to ask them five questions about the experience of making their films.

The Edge Trailer from Jackson Wild on Vimeo.

What inspired this story?
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Director and Producer Carlos Toro: I became inspired by Joe Romeiro's story of going from someone who was very interested in marine wildlife, specifically sharks and to what extent that passion eventually manifested itself in his life.  This is also a story of how our passions tend to weave themselves into our lives.

The Edge is a story of what it looks like to allow your passions to drive you to the cusp of what is being done in a given field.  The narrative is further pushed by the dark, elusive nature of the footage and ultimately communicates a message of our role in this world and how we can co-habitat this space, respectfully. 

Describe some of the challenges faced while making this film?

CT: The main challenge of this film was to focus on a very narrow sliver of a particular style of footage; night time, dark footage and make that interesting enough to tie in our narrative objective into that.  Another, much more practical consideration was having to get the shots completed in a such a short time frame.  ​

Photo courtesy of The Edge

How do you approach science storytelling?

CT: Our approach at Steer Films is to reexamine information or subject matter that is taken for granted and apply our lens to it and show its true, remarkable nature. 

What impact do you hope this film will have?

CT: Ideally, the film will cause people to reflect and reconsider what our role is as stewards of this planet.  Specifically, for shark enthusiasts we hope it's a subject matter that we have wrapped in enough interesting footage for it to be appreciated by a wider audience. 

Were there any surprising or meaningful moments/experiences you want to share?

CT: The most meaningful moments appeared in hindsight. How we connected with the protagonist, Joe Romeiro.  The way the shoot came together in a such natural, but powerful way and ultimately how well the piece has been received.

Photo courtesy of The Edge

Photo courtesy of The Edge

Anything else you would like people to know?

CT: We believe that deep scientific insights need to be translated into a visceral, emotional experience.  We all learn more about ourselves by what's being revealed every day by new discoveries and the work being done in many exciting fields.  Our goal is to work with organizations and people who are deeply passionate about their respective field of study and be able to bring their stories to the masses. 

What next?

CT: Our team at Steer Films has recently successfully completed production on two recent TV programs for Discovery and National Geographic.  We are currently working on a TV project that we were able to spearhead from it's inception and look forward to seeing it debut next year on Discovery channel. 

We're also looking forward to collaborating with researchers, scientists and other passionate actors in the very near future.