“Moana” star Auli’i Cravalho recognizes how her status as an actor and Broadway singer has created the opportunity to truly make a difference. And with the documentary “Reef Builders,” which recently premiered during SXSW, she shines a light on coral reef restoration efforts.
“Truthfully, not everyone is able to make an impact. That’s a fact,” Cravalho told Variety‘s Clayton Davis at the Variety Watch Party of “Reef Builders” presented by Sheba. “The fact that I am in this position and get to combine my joy for filmmaking with my passion of advocacy, specifically for my home country and my home state, it was a no-brainer for this project.”
“Reef Builders,” which premiered during SXSW, tells the true stories of people involved in the Sheba Hope Grows program, leading major restorations to save the world’s coral reefs in the face of climate change. The documentary is brought to audiences by the SHEBA brand, with Cravalho attached as an associate producer.
During the event, Dr. Daniel DeMartini from the Kuleana Coral Restoration recognized how technology created by the SHEBA brand and Mars Sustainable Solutions has made coral restoration a possibility to the rest of the world.
“We’re working in this high wave energy environment where we have complicated and complex governmental structure and just all those setbacks that we felt,” DeMartini said. “I do really appreciate the film showing that reality — not just for Hawaii, but for Kenya and everywhere else. The tool is powerful.”
Director and producer Stephen Shearman was originally daunted by the project and telling the story of coral reef preservation. But his whole perspective changed when he went to Bontosua for the first time — a tight-knit island of just 400 people.
“When you look someone in the face, you can read their story,” Shearman said. “[Sam] just kind of casually said, ‘Yeah, there were two more houses down there. They’ve gone.’ The impact of coral reef then just smacked me between the eyes. Losing coral reefs to these people is everything, and that’s what opened the film up.”
Professor David Smith, senior director of Mars Sustainable Solutions, took the opportunity to directly address the audience to think about the importance of coral reefs in their lives. “Your life, the air that you breathe depends on the ocean, and that ocean depends on coral reefs … It’s your responsibility to do something as well.”
Cravalho went on to say how: “As a young person, I feel like I’m inheriting a world that is on fire. And it is, it really is. But what I love about this documentary is that it shows that there still is hope … It would be for naught, actually, if not for community and local indigenous people.”