We are making a short documentary film about Jann Sandøy (b 1947), who is one of the three people living on the
island Sandøy in Nordland, Norway. Sandøy (Træna) is one of the most outer islands in the Norwegian Arctic.
Jann grew up on the island Sandøy, became a seaman and is a very skilled self-taught educator that
engages and inspires many others about tangible and intangible North Norwegian coastal culture. The local primary
school in Træna has yearly visited Jann and he has taught the children local skills and created an intergenerational
dialogue about sustainable living in this coastal landscape. This intergenerational practical learning is of key
importance to promote sustainable development. He uses the landscape to navigate at sea by heart and safeguards
the knowledge about the traditional way of living. His personality and skills inspire whoever meets him, towards a
behavioural change and increasing awareness of the ocean's value.
The film about Jann Sandøy will focus on coastal identity, intergenerational learning, living cultural heritage,
sustainable future imaginations and ocean literacy. This project strengthens and shows the values encapsulated in
coastal identity through co-creation (art & science) and increases empathy across and towards our ocean, both
locally and internationally to a broad audience. In this way, the project will contribute to reaching the goals of the UN
Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, specifically in terms of increasing ocean literacy through new
forms of collaboration between science, the arts and culture sector, and the school sector. The project specifically
contributes to goal 10 of the Norwegian priority areas for the Ocean Decade: “Everyone understands the ocean” as
described in the document The UN Decade of Ocean Science - Proposed priority areas, pointing out that “(c)
ooperation is needed between scientists, ocean industries, communication experts, the arts and culture sector and
the school sector. International cooperation is also needed to provide inspiration and to boost international
understanding of the ocean.”
The short documentary film about Jann explores questions related to social and cultural sustainability of coastal
communities in transition, through Jann's life on Sandøy and coastal childhood (youth) on the islands in Træna. The
aim is to shed light on the shifting and dynamic interplay between education, knowledge production and society in
coastal environments from an intergenerational perspective.
The documentary raises societal awareness of the ocean's value and inspires behavioural change for a sustainable
future, while safeguarding tangible and intangible coastal heritage.
A short teaser can be seen by clicking on the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPs1cIQWnD4
Note: The documentary will be with video/moving images (this teaser is with pictures and audio).
