Artivist Film Festival announced today that “Minds In The Water,” a feature-length documentary about a professional free surfer whose mission to save dolphins–our mammalian fellows–became an international cause célèbre, will open the 2011 festival in Hollywood, August 18-20.

The Opening Night Film presentation marks the North American premiere of the film. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is the Official Opening Night NGO Partner.

The film follows the quest of professional surfer Dave “Rasta” Rastovich and his friends to protect dolphins, whales and the oceans they all share. Through a five-year adventure – from Australia to the Galapagos, Chile, California, Alaska and Japan – we see one surfer’s transformation from observer to activist in his desire to defend the seas and its inhabitants.

Along the way, Rasta is joined by fellow surfers and even Hollywood celebrities, notably Isabel Lucas (“Transformers 2″) and Hayden Panettiere (“Heroes,” “Scream 4″), who travel with him on a whirlwind journey around the world, raising public awareness for their cause. Isabel Lucas will participate in the panel discussion immediately following the Opening Night screening of the film, along with Rastovich and the film’s director Justin Krumb.

We now have screencaps from the gorgeous new ‘Coral Sea Love’ video that Isabel and boyfriend Angus Stone filmed for the Protect Our Coral Sea campaign! I’ve also found a couple of nice photos of Izzy filming the video. This looks like Izzy in her element, she looks so happy and beautiful!

You can watch the video itself further down our updates (here), and of course you can find out more about the cause and sign the petition at protectourcoralsea.org.au. You can even sign it if you live outside Australia.

• Protect Our Coral Sea – ‘Coral Sea Love’ video – screencaptures x77
• Protect Our Coral Sea – ‘Coral Sea Love’ video – Filming x2

Protect Our Coral Sea
By Isabel Lucas for huffingtonpost.com

I don’t think I can recall a time when I wasn’t aware of the beauty of the ocean. Growing up in Australia, I had the good fortune of always having the sea at my side, and one of my first memories of the ocean became an important life lesson for me. My parents had taken my sister and I to this really special beach, Halfmoon Bay. I was so little, but when my mum and sister began to swim out into the ocean I tried to follow and keep up. I suddenly had this feeling of not being able to feel the ground with my feet anymore. I started sinking amongst the waves, watching the blue of the sky begin to slip away — like I was a little grain of sand sinking to the bottom of the sea… So my first memories of the ocean were powerful and I was taught an important lesson that would stay with me forever, that the ocean is powerful and is to be respected in every way.

For my 10th birthday, my sister and I were taken out on a big boat to Moore Reef in the Great Barrier Reef. There were fish in stunningly unimaginable colors, caves and layers of coral that looked like underwater flower beds. The beauty of this magical underwater land made such an impression on me. It completely shaped my appreciation for the beauty of this world. When I learned that only 1 percent of Australia’s Coral Sea was protected — I was stunned. Even as a 10-year-old kid, it seemed so obvious to me that this gift to our world must be preserved.

These fantastic coral reefs are often referred to as the “rainforests of the sea” because they contain such a huge diversity of life, and Australian marine life is particularly important because our reefs have more marine species than any other country on earth. But sadly, less than half (45 percent) of the world’s reefs are considered healthy now with all of these reefs threatened by global warming. Our world has lost 19 percent of all coral reefs, which means that one in five reefs have disappeared, and we stand to lose another 15 percent in the next two decades to overfishing, mangrove loss, pollution and disease.

These statistics are disheartening, but unfortunately for many it goes far beyond percentages. About 500 million people around the world have some degree of dependence on healthy coral reefs, so it’s incredibly important for us on a human level — especially the world’s poor — that we do everything we can to protect them.

We are however slowly making improvements. In 2004, the Australian government put in place the world’s largest network of no-fishing zones in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. After several years, the good news is that the reefs that are highly protected have fewer outbreaks of coral eating species like the Crown of Thorns Starfish, and more top predators, like sharks, which are being depleted dramatically all around the world.

The hope that the Coral Sea remains an intact eco-system, has led me to take action and do my part to see that dream realized. I’ve become passionately involved with the Protect Our Coral Sea initiative, which aims to create the largest marine park in the world, free of fishing, oil and gas exploration, and seabed mining. It would protect a huge diversity of habitats from tropical coral reefs, to species living in the open ocean, to a huge pool of biodiversity living in the depths of the ocean that we don’t even know about yet. This marine park would also protect almost one million square kilometers, right next to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. It would serve as a place for inspiration, enjoyment and where the ocean’s species — whales, dolphins, sea turtles, rays — will all have a safe haven forever.

Together, Angus and I created a little video that we hope will inspire people to want to be a part of a movement for positive change for the protection of the magical Coral Sea. Angus also shares many beautiful childhood memories of the ocean as a young boy, growing up sailing, admiring the ocean as it taught him about life and respecting this treasure. We filmed our video with a beautiful old super 8 camera that captured our feeling of first falling in love with the ocean, and all of our childhood memories at the beach. We believe it’s our duty, together.

Totally cute Isabel Lucas video alert. Protect Our Coral Sea have released a new video advert featuring Isabel and her boyfriend Angus Stone, in which the couple ask viewers to sign a petition to create a “very large, world-class, highly protected marine park in the Coral Sea”. It’s a typically Isabel – hippy, 70′s inspired – looking video advert.

Isabel previously discussed the Protect Our Coral Sea campaign in her 2010 Grazia magazine interview.

Find out more at the Protect Our Coral Sea website, and through the caption on the YouTube video:

Protect our Coral Sea gives everyone a ‘don’t it always seem to go ’til you don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone’ opportunity to protect our precious Coral Sea for our children’s children to enjoy. We believe it is our duty, together, to protect & love these beautiful sea creatures and their ecosystems living in this great oceanic garden.

Please sign the petition at www.protectourcoralsea.org.au – it’s quicker than brushing your teeth!

We hope our video inspires you to help make the Coral Sea a safe haven for marine life.

Thanks for your support!
Angus Stone and Isabel Lucas

Julia Stone’s beautiful song In the City of Lights features on Coral Sea Love.

Help make the Coral Sea a safe haven for marine life. Sign our petition. Tell your friends. Like us on Facebook. Pass on the message.

I just came across this article about Isabels brief involvement in a new book about ocean conservation. The book is available to purchase at SeaVoices.com.

La Jolla High School alum Duffy Healy (Class of ’86) nurtured his love for the ocean growing up surfing local breaks and met his match in wife Elizabeth, a Laguna Beach native who shares his desire to protect the ocean. The couple, who now call San Clemente home, have come to realize that while they belong to a community of ocean conservationists, that simply isn’t good enough. The Healys are now raising awareness about the dire issues facing the world oceans in a new book, “Sea Voices, Working Toward a Sea Change.”

“We have been on the board of Oceana for years, but the idea for the book occurred to us while attending a fundraiser called “Sea Change in Laguna Beach,” Elizabeth said. “These fundraisers are very exclusive and cost a lot of money to attend. And while they do raise money for ocean awareness, it is almost as if the speakers are preaching to the choir because everyone shares that interest already. Duffy and I wanted to round up athletes, authors, musicians and celebrities to generate even more attention.”

The couple interviewed 138 people for “Sea Voices,” which is written in a question-and-answer format. The book boasts interviews with ocean experts like famous female oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle, Dr. Robert Ballard (noted for discovering the Titanic), Captain Paul Watson from Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (you may know him from the TV show “Whale Wars”) author and ecologist Carl Safina, British adventurer David de Rothschild, Jacques Cousteau’s grandchildren Alexandra and Fabien Cousteau, and many others.

The interviews in “Sea Voices” aren’t limited to ocean experts, though. The Healys also sat down with musicians like Jack Johnson, San Diego native Jason Mraz, Garret Dutton (aka G Love), Yoko Ono, Stefan Lessard (of the Dave Matthews Band) and Ziggy Marley.

Environmentally conscious actors like Daryl Hannah, Ted Danson, Q’orianka Kilcher, Isabel Lucas, Kate Walsh, Sam Waterson, Keely and Pierce Brosnan, and others were also eager to chat about why protecting the ocean is of such vital importance to all.

Continue reading this entry »

The Sydney Morning Herald have published a new interview with Isabel, in which she talks about the usual things, but as always it’s a very interesting read. She mentions Red Dawn, why she wanted to do A Heartbeat Away, travelling, who she wants to work with in the future and more. The interview has been added to our Press page.

Former Home and Away star Isabel Lucas has cracked Hollywood. Ed Gibbs finds her at odds with her ditzy reputation.

Her big break in the US may have been stymied by a film studio in free-fall but former soap star and notorious environmental activist Isabel Lucas now appears set for well-earned breakout success in 2011.

Having survived the collapse of MGM (best known as the long-time home to James Bond’s 007 licence), Lucas’s follow-up to 2009′s big-screen debut, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, is Red Dawn , which is firmly back on track for its blockbuster release. And, as if to make up for lost time, there’s a second major film due out as well.

In addition to the long-delayed remake of the 1980s cult hit – in which Lucas stars opposite fellow Melburnian Chris Hemsworth – audiences will also see the starlet alongside A-listers Mickey Rourke, Stephen Dorff and John Hurt in the Greek mythology drama Immortals. The two films are polar opposites for the 26-year-old, who was famously plucked from acting college when she was 17 and groomed for her Australian soap debut in 2002.

“I’ve heard it’s amazing but I haven’t seen the finished product yet,” she says of Red Dawn. “We were doing boot camps and martial-arts training, learning to use different weaponry in the cold Detroit winter. It’s classic action. When you’re an actor, when opportunities come up, you go with the flow. You jump.”

Read the full interview

The Whaleman Foundation are running an auction on Ebay for fans to bid to win the chance to attend the premiere of Immortals later this year and meet Isabel! The auction starts at $1,000, so sadly the auction is not for everyone! The winner will be Isabel’s guest at the Los Angeles premiere of Immortals, set to be held on November 11th 2011, and they will also receive a personal photo with Isabel, and be allowed to ask her to sign one small item. 100% of proceeds goes to The Whaleman Foundation.

We all know Isabel’s passion and support for The Whaleman Foundation, and it’s wonderful to see her do another auction with them.

Good luck to anyone who places a bid!

A week or so ago I mentioned that I had lots of appearance HQs to add for you, and since I posted that update I’ve been adding them all to the Gallery, along with a ton of other photos that I had on my computer waiting to be uploaded. These photos include appearance HQs, candid HQs, photoshoots, charity-related HQs, Home & Away pics and more. Some are HQ replacements of photos we already had, and some are completely new to the site. They’re all over the place, so I won’t list every single album. Just browse through the Last Uploads page up til page 9 to see all the new additions since the last big gallery update.

This update also includes photos from Izzy’s Mount Kilimanjaro climb last year – I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to add these, but we now do have photos from the climb as well as related screencaps. Make sure you check out our exclusive screencaps from the full MTV Documentary too, which were posted about a week or so ago.

That’s all the photos I have on my computer for now! I have some media to add for you next, and I will also be working on completing our content soon too. And when I get my scanner fixed you can look forward to a ton of magazine scans, including some great old Home & Away era stuff! And not forgetting lots more Home & Away screencaps.

• Last uploads

Almost 10 months after I added the first set, I have now added the 2nd set of screencaps from the Summit On The Summit Kilimanjaro documentary that aired on MTV last year! Very sorry for the delay on this 2nd batch – I completely forgot I hadn’t finished them! In this 2nd batch of caps we see the climbers head for the Summit, and how physically demanding it is. Isabel was apparently very faint quite close to the top, and you can see how she’s being propped up by some of the others. Makes her achievement of getting to the top even more admirable! It really is a fascinating documentary. I will upload it to our Video section once I start on that in the near future.

• MTV’s Summit On The Summit: Kilimanjaro Documentary – Screencaptures x 116 more

A couple of days ago I posted about Isabel attending a Sea Shepherd event, and today photos have surfaced! I’ve only been able to find a few, small photos though, but I will continue to search for more! You can also find a few more photos at JustJared.com, but I won’t be posting those in our Gallery because of the massive yellow tags

Isabel posed on the red carpet with Sea Shepherd boss Capt. Paul Watson. She looks pretty in a little patterned blue and white dress … which looked familiar to me, and upon checking our Gallery I realised that’s because she wore it whilst out and about in Los Angeles last year! I love seeing her re-wear outfits like this, and with a wardrobe like hers, why wouldn’t you!? :p

I’m still working on catching up with all the recent candids, but whilst I do that, I have a special HQ treat for you, so check back in the next day or two for that

• Animal Planet & Sea Shepherd “Operation No Compromise” Commencement Celebration x5