Azul’s Award-Winning Ocean Justice Documentary, EnClave, Premieres on YouTube
For Immediate Release
Thursday, February 1, 2024
Contacts (Español/English)
Lucila Garcia, López-Wagner Strategies, 323-646-2150, lucila@equitablecomms.com
Betsy López-Wagner, López-Wagner Strategies, 708-717-9408, betsy@equitablecomms.com
Maeve Stewart, López-Wagner Strategies, 650-714-9583, maeve@equitablecomms.com
Azul’s Award-Winning Ocean Justice Documentary, EnClave, Premieres on YouTube
Following its Ocean Day World Premiere, the full-length film makes its official debut online with free streaming
San Diego, CA – Azul’s award-winning film, EnClave, which explores the historical and geopolitical factors involved in the extensive extraction of our ocean and the impacts of those actions on our lives, will be accessible via YouTube for free streaming beginning Friday, February 2nd. Prior to the premiere, viewers will have access to a livestream featuring the film’s leading character who will discuss ocean justice and the significance of the release day – El Día de Yemayá, a tribute to the celebration of the ocean, held in parts of Latin America.
EnClave, a Spanish-language documentary with English subtitles, is the first feature film released by Azul, an environmental justice organization working with Latinx communities to protect the ocean and coasts. Produced by Marce Gutiérrez-Graudiņš, Azul’s founder and executive director, and Bocafloja, filmmaker and artist, who wrote the film’s script, and starring Stephany Espinosa, EnClave explores the historical and geopolitical factors involved in the extensive extraction of our ocean and the impacts of those actions on our lives. The film exposes environmental racism through music, dance, and storytelling to bring viewers through to see the paramount social injustices that cannot be dismissed but must be addressed to advance climate action.
“EnClave recognizes and brings to the forefront coastal and marine life for people everywhere – capturing the essence, beauty, and representation of our ocean and the stories of communities who have been, and are marginalized – the historically excluded within a typically white-controlled social dialogue. We strongly feel the importance of this film’s digital, open-access YouTube premiere following two years’ time on the film festival circuit,” said Marce Gutiérrez-Graudiņš, Founder and Executive Director of Azul.
“Working on Enclave has been a powerful experience that enhanced my analisis on environmental preservation through personal narratives, storytelling, affection, spirituality and music,” said Bocafloja. “Having the film’s public release on Yemaya’s day is a humble offering to the ocean and our history as racialized communities in constant movement – un recordatorio de que nuestros territorios no terminan o comienzan en las orillas del mar.”
“Being a part of this Azul film, EnClave, provided me with an opportunity to demonstrate what it means be born and raised in a place with a strong ocean connection, while showing the relationship between Black and racialized communities and the critical ecosystems we protect,” said Stephany Espinosa, the film’s protagonist. “To speak of natural resources is also to speak of our lives.”
Since its World Ocean Day debut in 2022, EnClave screenings have spanned three continents, as it has been seen by audiences in our nation’s Capital to Medellin, Colombia in South America and Cabo Verde in Africa. It was also screened at the African Film Festival in New York and at the Dana Point Film Festival in 2023. In recent months, it received an honorary mention for Best Short Documentary at the Djarfogo International Film Fest in West Africa in November.
For a list of writers – individuals who contributed to EnClave’s narrative via its Anthology and are credited in its closing credits – visit the En El Mar Anthology and view the list of authors.
For interview opportunities, contact Betsy López-Wagner, Betsy@equitablecomms.com.
About Azul: Azul is a grassroots organization working with Latinxs to conserve the ocean and coasts. It was founded in 2011 to bring Latinxs perspectives and participation to ocean conservation and has long advocated for environmental justice and equity in the state of California, across the nation and at international levels.
About Bocafloja: Bocafloja is an award-winning artist of music and film. He has been featured in PBS, Once TV, BBC, NPR, Afropunk and Okayplayer, amongst other media outlets worldwide. Following the tradition of Third Cinema, Bocafloja approaches his art through the practice of visual poetry by emphasizing the artistic and political possibilities of discourse and subjectivity.
About Stephany: Stephany Espinosa is a photographer, writer, and anthropologist, born in Panama City in 1996 and raised in the coastal urban center of the city, in one of the most popular neighborhoods of the city. Her intellectual and artistic work centers Black and racialized experiences in urban contexts and their connection to the diaspora.
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