WATCH THE TRAILER
PRESS
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DEADLINE
‘Resident Orca’: Watch Trailer For Documentary On Killer Whale Seized As Baby, Held Captive In Seaquarium For Over 50 Years
WLRN PBS & NPR
Resident Orca at Miami Film Festival
DEADLINE
‘My Octopus Teacher’ Producer Off The Fence Acquires Documentary ‘Resident Orca’
OVERLY HONEST REVIEWS
Advocacy and Action Beyond the Tank
MOVIEMAKER MAGAZINE
In Resident Orca, Indigenous Women Fight to Save a Whale They Consider Family
POV MAGAZINE
Resident Orca Review: In Honour of Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut, Lolita the Killer Whale
KUOW NPR
Resident Orca tells the story of Lummi elders' quest to bring captured whale home
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THE BELLINGHAM HERALD
Treaty Day event features ‘Resident Orca,’ acclaimed film about effort to free Tokitae
KNKX NPR
‘Resident Orca’ film shows Lummi elders’ quest to bring captured whale home to the Salish Sea
UPCOMING SCREENINGS
April 6th and 9th, 2024
Miami Film Festival, World Premiere
Miami, FL
Documentary Achievement Award Nominee
*Sold Out
October 18th, 2024
Santa Fe Film Festival
Sante Fe, NM
*Sold Out
October 20th, 2024
Planet in Focus Film Festival
Toronto, ON
November 10th, 2024
Lake Placid Film Festival
Lake Placid, NY
November 13th, 2024
Red Nation International Film Festival
Best Documentary Nominee
Los Angeles, CA
December 6th, 2024
Whistler Film Festival
Winner, Best BC Director
Whistler, BC
January 23rd, 2025
Treaty Day Film Festival
Lummi, BC
January 25th, 2025
Pickford Film Center
12:45pm
Bellingham, WA
*Sold Out
January 26th, 2024
Central Florida Film Festival
Epic Theatres Mount Dora
4:45pm
Mount Dora, FL
February 14th, 2025
March 26, 2025
"My relative, Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut (Lolita/Tokitae) was captured in the 1970 orca roundup in Penn Cove, Washington from the L-pod, Southern Resident Killer Whales. She was sold to the Miami Seaquarium, Miami Florida where she lived for over 50 years. I campaigned for many years to have her returned to her natal waters, the Salish Sea."
- Squil-le-he-le Raynell Morris
CREDITS
A CRAVE ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARY PRODUCED WITH THE PARTICIPATION OF CANADA MEDIA FUND AND ROGERS DOCUMENTARY FUND AN EVERYDAY FILM PRODUCTION
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS SQUIL-LE-HE-LE RAYNELL MORRIS TAH-MAHS ELLIE KINLEY SARAH SHARKEY PEARCE SIMON SCHNEIDER ROMNEY GRANT MELISSA GAUCHER LYNNE KIRBY AND JAMES COSTA DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY SIMON SCHNEIDER ORIGINAL MUSIC COMPOSED BY JESSE AND JOSH ZUBOT
SOUND DESIGN EUGENIO BATTAGLIA EDITOR TONY KENT WRITTEN DIRECTED AND PRODUCED BY SARAH SHARKEY PEARCE AND SIMON SCHNEIDER
CONTACT US
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copyright Everyday Films, 2025
ABOUT THE FILM.
RESIDENT ORCA TELLS THE SHOCKING STORY OF A CAPTIVE WHALE'S FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL AND FREEDOM.
After decades of failed attempts to bring her home, an unlikely partnership between Indigenous matriarchs, a billionaire philanthropist, killer whale experts, and the aquarium’s new owner take on the herculean task of freeing Lolita, captured 53 years ago as a baby, only to spend the rest of her life performing in the smallest killer whale tank in North America. When Lolita falls ill under troubling circumstances, her advocates are faced with a painful question: is it too late to save her?
