Keiko's Dream... Keiko's Legacy - An Educational Film

Theresa Demarest and Joshua Records

in association with

The Free Willy Keiko Foundation

'This was a failed and flawed experiment from the beginning. As far as I'm concerned, Keiko was never a release candidate. He was caught in the middle of a Hollywood movie.'

(Greg Bossart, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution & Miami Seaquarium)

'We extended not only the length of his life, but the quality of his life. He was swimming tight circles in a small pool with papilloma all over him, and by the time we finished with him, he was out with the big boys, swimming around with wild whales in the ocean.'

(David Phillips, Free Willy Keiko Foundation)

Nowhere in recent history has a captive mammal garnered so much attention—be it obsessive support or dismay—than Keiko, the killer whale and the star of the 1993 hit film ‘Free Willy’. The film’s success, partnered with growing public interest in environmentalism and conservation, launched the ‘children’s crusade’ that called for Keiko’s release into the wild. The result—a multimillion-dollar project that spanned four countries, weathered endless controversy and lasted eight years—has been claimed a failure by many and a success by some. Rarely in public opinion does one find such a controversial, nonhuman icon.

Keiko’s Dream... Keiko’s Legacy, an educational film, is the first to center on the killer whale himself and his process of rehabilitation and release after over fifteen years in captivity. Utilizing never-before-seen footage captured by Ocean Futures, Jean-Michel Cousteau’s foundation, and those in his inner circle, audiences are immersed in the daily struggles that defined ‘the Keiko project.’ Striking visuals of orcas in the wild contrast with Keiko’s overheated and cramped quarters at the Reino Aventura animal theme park in Mexico City. First-hand accounts by his fiercest champion, David Phillips of the Free Willy Keiko Foundation, and others illuminate for the first time the complex decisions that went into his lengthy rehabilitation process. With millions of fans worldwide tracking his progress and supporting his release, Keiko lived to become the second oldest male orca whale ever to have been in captivity. Today, Keiko remains a powerful symbol not only for the anti-captivity movement but also for the broader scope of environmental conservation and climate change. At the fifth anniversary of his death, Keiko’s Dream... Keiko’s Legacy re-examines popular sentiment that the Keiko project was a ‘failed and flawed experiment’ by offering the insider’s view to Keiko’s long and grueling process of rehabilitation from captivity into the wild.

Background

Most Oregonians and ocean conservationists everywhere are familiar with Keiko’s story. Captured off the coast of Iceland in 1979 as a young, immature calf, Keiko ended up a trained entertainer at Reino Aventura, a popular marine park in Mexico. Under the hot sun and smoggy air of Mexico City, Keiko developed a debilitating and painful skin condition and developed into an underweight and unhealthy adult whale. After the surprise success of Free Willy in 1993, the Hollywood film in which he starred and became world-renowned, public sentiment began to turn to Keiko’s release into the wild. Like his Hollywood alter ego, his supporters wanted to ‘free’ Keiko from his confinement in Mexico. This ‘children’s crusade’ mobilized leading whale researchers, conservationists, and those involved in the captive marine industry alike, and would result in what became an international phenomenon embroiled in endless controversy.

After the completion of a state-of-the-art facility at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, Keiko’s road to rehabilitation from captivity began in 1996. He was transported from Mexico City to his new home in Newport, Oregon, and there a team of caretakers endeavored to restore his health and ‘untrain’ the killer whale to ready him for release into the wild. Two years later, Keiko was deemed fit enough to graduate to a sea pen in his home waters off the coast of Iceland; going on regular ‘ocean walks’ in the North Atlantic, Keiko cavorted with wild orca pods and hunted for fish. Despite the caretakers’ intention for Keiko to join up with a pod and abandon his human friends, Keiko returned daily to his sea pen. However, after nearly four years of his caretakers’ attempts to reassimilate him into the wild, Keiko took off on a solitary trip across the North Atlantic that would land him in Norway, where he remained until his death in 2003.

Keiko’s death marked an end to a divisive endeavor. Was the project a success, or was it a failed experiment that wasted millions of dollars that could have been spent in better and more effective ways? His advocates from the Free Willy Keiko Foundation have been vilified in the press for their extravagant efforts to release a single whale whose capacity to survive in the wild was never a sure thing, while supporters praised their efforts as setting an important precedent for the plight of captive whales everywhere. Keiko has simultaneously been called an ‘ambassador for the health of the ocean’ a “Trojan Whale” for the future of commercial whaling’ and an ‘archetype for rehabilitated whales.’ It is obvious, despite one’s personal beliefs on the strength of the project’s goals, that Keiko’s life story strikes a major chord amongst the public. The controversial figure of Keiko is clearly a pivotal one for examining contemporary whaling and other conservation issues in today’s oceans, and particularly in light of increasing public concern over climate change today.

Treatment

Keiko’s Dream... Keiko’s Legacy is an educational documentary that provides its viewers an inside look into the world’s most beloved killer whale, through cinema verite footage, interviews and voiceover. Footage captured by leading environmental organizations instrumental in securing his release, including the Free Willy Keiko Foundation and Ocean Futures Institute, sits at the core of Keiko’s Dream... Keiko’s Legacy. Through this intimate and never-before-seen footage, viewers are immersed in Keiko’s world of rehabilitation and change. Images of Keiko’s daily training and rehabilitation sessions in Iceland, Norway and Oregon are paired with striking aerial footage of Keiko on his solitary journey in the wilds of the North Atlantic in a gorgeous rendering of his international struggle for freedom.

Through interviews with key players in Keiko’s story, including Associate Director Mark Berman of the Free Willy Keiko Foundation, who pioneered the efforts to release Keiko; Executive Director Dave Phillips of the Earth Island Institute; and Naomi Rose, marine mammal scientist with the Humane Society of the United States, viewers learn about his daily challenges on the road to rehabilitation, as well hear as humorous stories that reveal his indomitable spirit. These insider anecdotes about the process of ‘untraining’ the killer whale and their goals in carrying out the project are accompanied by a voiceover that chronicles Keiko’s story and brings greater understanding to the footage onscreen.

The film will also include a section that compares wild and captive orca statistics to Keiko’s, in order to provide audiences a more thorough understanding of Keiko’s progress. He is a unique whale, who lived the majority of his life in captivity, though he defies most captive whale statistics. The voiceover will break down common misconceptions of Keiko’s story, including his life span, what Keiko actually did during his time in Iceland, and the circumstances of his death in Norway.

Finally, Keiko’s Dream... Keiko’s Legacy features filmmaker and musician Theresa Demarest’s haunting music soundtrack Keiko’s Dream, which was a part of Keiko’s Dream Tour, an educational ‘eco-rock’ show that traveled across Oregon during Keiko’s residency at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Featuring speakers from the Free Willy Keiko Foundation and music performed by Theresa Demarest and Good Company, Keiko’s Dream Tour shared Keiko’s story to rapt young audiences who, for the first time, found a character to whom they could relate the broad, often detached issues of conservation, ecology and captivity. Keiko’s Dream... Keiko’s Legacy stems from the success of Keiko’s Dream Tour and provides a new perspective on this story so well documented by the media.

The production of the film is particularly timely in light of recent movements to free other captive orcas, including Kshamenk, a sixteen-year-old who was forcibly stranded off the coast of Argentina and is now held at Mundo Marino, a nearby amusement park. Countries like Iceland, Keiko’s home, have recently resumed commercial whaling despite protestations from ecologists and environmental activists worldwide. By examining these issues through the experiences of such a beloved and renowned character, Keiko’s Dream... Keiko’s Legacy can help illuminate the plight of whales in captivity and contribute to contemporary debates on the issue.

More than a nature documentary, Keiko’s Dream... Keiko’s Legacy is a character study that delves deep into the world of the beloved orca. It steps outside the controversy and the spats between warring factions and looks instead at the whale himself. Ultimately, the story of this killer whale is something that goes beyond Keiko and even beyond ocean and mammal research. The story of Keiko is a universal one, one to which his millions of fans worldwide can identify and connect; a story that humanizes today’s issues of climate change and conservation through the eyes of a single whale.

Audience & Public Television

The target audience for this film is those individuals interested in conservation, whaling issues, and others familiar with Keiko’s story. During his initial rehabilitation period, thousands of visitors made the pilgrimage to see Keiko at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, traveling from every far-flung region of the world to witness the rehabilitation of their favorite killer whale. Clearly, Keiko has made a lasting impact on many Oregonians as well as the international community, and this film is geared to those audiences. By revisiting Keiko’s story through the perspective of those in his closest circle, and examining the Keiko rehabilitation project as one effecting positive change, the film is intended to serve as an educational tool for a national public television audience to promote awareness of whales in captivity. Keiko’s Dream... Keiko’s Legacy will appeal to a broad audience interested in conservation issues and also to those personally involved in Keiko’s story as a fellow Oregonian.

Additionally, through an agreement with the Free Willy Keiko Foundation, the film will be included in educational packs distributed by the foundation to educators, conservationists and other groups. It is particularly suitable for outreach efforts in primary and secondary schools, as a tool to enhance classroom lessons in ecology, conservation, oceanography and ethics.

Filmmaker Biography

Theresa Demarest is a songwriter/producer for Joshua Records in Portland, Oregon. Her CDs are sold and distributed nationally, and her live shows and award-winning music has garnered a great deal of regional press. She mixes Folk, R&B, Rock, and touches of jazz to spin a tale, behind which she masterfully creates a distinctive mood and a presence. She brings this unique voice to her film work. Her first film, Herd of Two, chronicles her compelling journey to bond with a highly spirited Half-Arab Half-Saddlebred filly named Tehya Takoda. In her films, she utilizes her original music to heighten and musically illustrate her message in order to effect positive change in the environment through education and music.

As producer/director of Keiko’s Dream... Keiko’s Legacy, Theresa brings to life her deep connection to Keiko’s story. Several years ago, during her recovery from breast cancer, she found solace in Keiko’s own recovery from captivity in a Mexican theme park to his rehabilitation tank at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Upon surviving cancer, and inspired by Keiko’s story of healing, she composed Keiko’s Dream, an instrumental piece that evokes the whale’s song through an eloquent guitar theme. Her piece evolved into Keiko’s Dream Tour, a ‘unique eco-rock road show’ that consisted of a series of concerts and environmental education presentations in schools and performance halls across Oregon in association with the Free Willy Keiko Foundation.

Filmmaker Statement

Keiko’s Dream… Keiko’s Legacy is a film that allows its viewers to pause and take a second look at Keiko's strong will to survive and to explore his enormous embrace of his own freedom. It is by pondering his behavior in such powerful footage that viewers can see things about Keiko that perhaps they never took the time to consider before, and to really look at what The Free Willy Keiko Foundation and all those directly involved were doing. I am interested in translating to the audience the ways in which the effort to release a captive whale into the wild did succeed, as well as examine the questions left unexplored. That is Keiko's Dream.

This is Keiko’s Dream... Keiko’s Legacy.