About The Film

"Between the Harvest" is the story of Ostional, a small coastal community that relies on a legal harvest of olive ridley sea turtle eggs (as once a month the arribada produces thousands of simultaneous ridley nestings). Told through the eyes of both people and turtles, this short documentary delves into one of the biggest controversies in the marine world: is this harvest an exemplary conservation project? While the community continues to fight for control of its only crop-a seemingly endless supply-the real issue complicating their lives boils down to the simple question: what will they do if the turtles are gone tomorrow?

I didn't want to tell their story from a political standpoint or make a statement, I just wanted to illustrate the need for balance between population and resources throughout the world. And if nothing else, hopefully bring light to the way we are treating the ocean generally worldwide. Fishermen are still using nets in protected waters, communities are still slaughtering turtles for their meat and leather, and people are still illegally harvesting eggs at alarming rates. With all of this documented, I cannot help but see the co-existence of all species, from the things we eat to the communities we support.

"I realized then that tourists and turtles both have a virtually identical impact on the community of ostional; they arrive out of the blue, bestow untold riches upon the town, and then return to their glorious lives in other parts of the world, thereby leaving the people of ostional no choice but to wishfully burn the days until their beneficiaries return." -Adam Beals, former ICADS student