Chasing Coral screens arrayed on the beach during Netflix production

Chasing Coral.

The Emmy-winning Netflix documentary that exposed the underwater catastrophe hiding in plain sight.

The Film

A story that changed everything.

Chasing Coral follows Richard Vevers and a team of divers, photographers, and scientists on an underwater mission to document the disappearance of coral reefs around the world — and to tell that story to the world before it's too late.

Richard Vevers conceived of Chasing Coral after years of photographing coral reefs and discovering a crisis the world simply wasn't seeing. He partnered with director Jeff Orlowski to create a film that would bring these invisible disasters to the surface.

The result premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2017, winning the Audience Award for US Documentary. Netflix acquired it and released it globally in July 2017. It went on to win the Emmy Award for Outstanding Nature Documentary and the Peabody Award — two of the highest honors in documentary filmmaking.

The film reached over 100 million viewers on Netflix and is credited with bringing coral bleaching into mainstream global consciousness. Richard has presented Chasing Coral with Q&A screenings to the US Congress, UN Climate Conferences COP21 and COP27, Google Headquarters, NASA's JPL, and universities, film festivals and other events around the world.

Awards

Recognition.

Wins and selected nominations for Chasing Coral.

Emmy Award Outstanding Nature Documentary
2018
Sundance Film Festival Audience Award, U.S. Documentary
2017
Peabody Awards Peabody Award Winner
2018
Academy Awards Best Documentary Feature Shortlist
2018
Boulder International Film Festival Best Feature Documentary
2017
Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize — Documentary (Nominee)
2017
Satellite Awards Best Motion Picture, Documentary
2018
Cinema Eye Honors Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography
2018
Boulder International Film Festival People's Choice Award
2017
Boulder International Film Festival Call to Action Award
2017
News & Documentary Emmy Awards Best Documentary (Nominee)
2018
Critics' Choice Documentary Awards Best Documentary (Nominee)
2017
Critics' Choice Documentary Awards Best Director (Nominee)
2017
Sheffield International Documentary Festival Environmental Award (Nominee)
2017
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival Audience Award — Best Documentary (Nominee)
2017
Seattle International Film Festival Golden Space Needle Award — Best Documentary (Nominee)
2017
Traverse City Film Festival Audience Award — Best Documentary Film (Nominee)
2017
Producers Guild of America Awards Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures (Nominee)
2017
Aerial view of a coral sea — the world above the world Chasing Coral documents