For many of us, Valerie Taylor is a living legend. A glamorous shark hunter in the 1950s, Valerie was a champion spear-fisher before a personal epiphany transformed her into a passionate marine conservationist – notably for the ocean’s scariest creature, the shark. Long before anyone else, Valerie dared to get close. This new film documents her story, swimming against the tide of the human misconception of sharks and putting herself on the front line for sharks for over 70 years.
Featuring a stranger than fiction script, the making of Jaws, a magnetic heroine, and that most charismatic and terrifying of screen creatures, sharks; this powerful and visually sumptuous feature documentary draws on re-mastered film footage captured over 50 years. Valerie’s bravery underwater will change the way we perceive sharks once and for all.
Through her life’s arc, we go on a journey of new understandings, from fear to respect and awe of these complex, often misunderstood creatures. Valerie Taylor is a marine maverick, a fearless diver and pioneering conservationist who used herself as shark bait, and dared to befriend even the legendary great white sharks.
This formidable woman forged her own adventure story in a male-dominated world and succeeded. Valerie’s passion to change the human perceptions of sharks transformed scientific knowledge and our understandings of these magnificent apex predators forever. This new film tells her story.
Click here to find a screening near you – some featuring a live Q&A session with Valerie.
