As Southern California’s kelp forests disappear at an alarming rate, the Aquarium of the Pacific’s animal care and conservation team is working relentlessly to turn the tide. A new award-winning film, created by documentary filmmaker Chris Stanford, follows the Aquarium of the Pacific team in their quest to save two endangered kelp forest species: white abalone and sunflower sea stars. The 35-minute version of the film debuted on November 8 as part of the Wild Festival, presented by Jackson Wild and the Aquarium of the Pacific. The 10-minute version will play daily in the Honda Pacific Visions Theater starting on November 11.
Before the Forest Falls takes audiences across Washington and California, including behind the scenes at the Aquarium where staff are working to save critical kelp forest species. “From spawning critically endangered sunflower sea stars and cultivating bull kelp to raising juvenile white abalone for release into the wild, their work represents ambitious and visionary marine and coastal conservation efforts,” said Jeff Flocken, Aquarium of the Pacific president and CEO. Warming oceans, invasive sea urchins, leading to an ecological imbalance, are pushing kelp forests toward collapse, and the Aquarium is working alongside others to bring back kelp forests.
“I wanted this film to pull back the curtain and reveal the extraordinary commitment to restore a single ecosystem,” said Stanford. “Before the Forest Falls is not a film about inevitable loss. It’s a film about possibility, and the people who choose action over despair, who remind us that meaningful change often begins quietly, long before the rest of the world notices.”
The film has already won awards, including Best Short Documentary at the Marina del Rey Film Festival, Feature Film Runner Up at the Changing Tides Ocean Film Festival in Roswell, Georgia, and Best of Fest at the Catalina Film Festival.
The thirty-five-minute film officially debuted on November 8, 2026, at the Wild Festival, presented by Jackson Wild and the Aquarium of the Pacific, a community film festival celebrating the latest in ocean cinema at the Aquarium’s Honda Pacific Visions Theater. The event included a panel discussion with Stanford and Aquarium staff featured in the film. The festival also featured Between Breaths, a short documentary by Florian Ledoux. For over a decade, filmmaker Florian Ledoux has lived and worked on the sea ice of Svalbard, documenting the fragile world of polar bears. Among them was one who changed everything: Grinch, an orphaned cub who defied the odds of surviving alone in one of the harshest environments on Earth. The festival also debuted WASAWASA: Beyond the Reef’s Edge by Scott Ressler of National Geographic’s Pristine Seas, which takes viewers on an inspiring journey across Fiji’s vibrant waters. It was followed by a Q&A with Ressler and his team members.
Guests will be able to watch the ten-minute version of Before the Forest Falls focusing on the Aquarium’s conservation work daily in the Aquarium’s Honda Pacific Visions Theater, featuring stadium seating and an immersive wide-format curved screen. Entrance to the film is included with Aquarium general admission and is free to Aquarium members and children under age three. For guests with accessibility needs, adaptive options are available.
Credit: The Aquarium of the Pacific.
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