Client: Dogwoof

Format: Feature Film

Description:

The extraordinary story of Richard “Ric” O’Barry, once the world’s highest-paid dolphin trainer, now their most passionate defender, risking his life and liberty to free these remarkable creatures from captivity.

In the 1960s, Ric was America’s leading dolphin trainer at the Miami Seaquarium and the celebrated trainer behind the hit TV series 'Flipper', whose smiling stars enchanted a generation. Everything changed after the apparent suicide of one of the show’s dolphins, Kathie - a moment that shattered his beliefs and set him on a radical path from insider to activist.

For over 50 years, Ric has led a global campaign against dolphin captivity. As founder of Dolphin Project, he has risked arrest, injury, and personal loss to rescue dolphins and expose the industry’s darkest secrets. Both celebrated and criticised, he remains steadfast that every captive dolphin can either be retired to a sanctuary or returned to the wild.

Told through intimate family access, joyous underwater imagery, and covert filming, Ric’s mission has transformed a non-issue into a global movement. Now 85, he must ask: after a lifetime spent freeing others, can he finally set himself free?