The film “Cracking the Ocean Code,” produced by Camden-based Compass Light for the SCIENCE and DISCOVERY Channels, has been selected as a finalist in the 2009 BLUE Film Festival & Conservation Event in Savannah, Georgia.

The documentary tracks renowned scientist and genome pioneer Dr. J. Craig Venter as he undertakes a globe-circling voyage, searching the world’s oceans for new life forms and genetic secrets. From the Gulf of Maine to Panama to the Galapagos Islands to the Great Barrier Reef, Dr. Venter and his team surveys the DNA of microscopic oceanic life. Along the way, he discovers new potential bio-based strategies for meeting energy needs, for tracking weather anomalies, for mediating ocean pollution and global warming.

The program faced competition from 250 talented entrants at BLUE, an international ocean film festival dedicated to honor, promote, and share films that inspire people to protect our oceans and the life within. Dr. Sylvia Earle, widely recognized as one of the world's most influential ambassadors for the oceans, will attend the festival to accept BLUE's lifetime achievement award.

“Ocean Code” was directed and produced by David Conover and his team at Compass Light. This group specializes in programming about the ocean and the natural world. Other noted work includes “Sunrise Earth,” a morning series that airs daily on HD THEATER. Currently in production is the feature documentary “Behold the Earth,” a musical inquiry into America’s divorce from nature, as well as a second film with geneticist Venter for SCIENCE.

“Behold the Earth” has a blog at www.beholdtheearth.com