Synopsis

Becoming Visible is a short multiscreen environmental documentary that explores the pressing issue of offshore oil and gas development off the South African coastline and its consequence to our marine life. It advances the theme of nature as political asset and questions the scripts of consumptive economics embedded in South Africa’s governmental approaches to environmental policy. The film focuses on a seismic survey off the east coast of RSA, which was extended into the whale migration season in July 2016. There were a number of unusual deepwater-mammal strandings during and after this survey. Becoming Visible investigates the risks posed by unilateral and indiscriminate traumatizing noise exposure from marine seismic surveys to many marine species, and the vulnerability of fishery-based livelihoods to these impacts.