The annual Blue Water Film Festival is returning to San Diego next month, bringing environmentally centered films, panel discussions, live music and more to various venues, including in La Jolla.
The films and exact locations have not been released, but the festival dates are Thursday through Sunday, March 19-22.
Greg Reitman, the festival’s founder and director, told the La Jolla Community Recreation Group — the advisory panel for the Recreation Center — at its Jan. 28 meeting that the festival is intended to “empower the youth to become storytellers” using film, because “cinema is the best way to make people think in a different way for a positive cause.”
The event’s presenter, the Blue Water Institute, aims to promote San Diego as a hub for marine science and environmental storytelling.
In holding the festival throughout San Diego, Reitman said “we just fell in love with La Jolla” as a host community.
Local venues include The Lot movie theater, the La Jolla/Riford Library and the Scripps Seaside Forum. The Recreation Center would be used to host screenings and performances.
Reitman said there will be an increased emphasis on engaging with local youths because “they see so much on the news … and this gives them hope, and that is very rewarding for me.”
Reitman said 30 films will be shown from among thousands of submissions from around the world.
“Of those 30, about six are animation, eight are features and the rest are short,” he said.
One film that has been secured is “The Making of ‘Jaws,’” which was donated by Disney and will be screened in La Jolla.
To find out about the films and the times and places they will be screened, visit bluewaterfilmfestival.org.
Other Community Recreation Group news
Planning ahead: The CRG board already is starting to think about how to make the 2026 holiday tree lighting on the Rec Center grounds a bigger and better event.
“Each year we kick ourselves because we get into October and we start [to think] about the [December] tree lighting and whether it will happen,” said CRG President Alan Dulgeroff. “So I thought, let’s not wait until October to talk about it … because we don’t want to do that again.”
The board likely will have some discussion about the tree lighting at each of its monthly meetings leading up to the event, which in 2025 was held Dec. 13.
The decades-long custom of decorating and lighting the 80-foot pine tree at 615 Prospect St. stalled during the COVID-19 pandemic but was resurrected in 2024 by the La Jolla Sunrise Rotary Club and La Jolla-based GDC Construction with a price tag of about $15,000 for new ornaments and lights. Community members ended up raising more than $20,000.
Following the success of that effort, Sunrise Rotary members again raised money and secured permits to light the tree in 2025.
The hope is to add more decor to the tree and possibly have music and hot cocoa at the lighting.
Senior citizen programming: San Diego Area Recreation Manager Juliette Suleiman said steps are being taken to add more senior-based programming to the Rec Center’s offerings, including fitness classes, arts and crafts and more.
The events likely would be held during the day, when demand for Rec Center rooms is not as high. However, details are not yet available.
Next meeting: The La Jolla Community Recreation Group next meets (pending items to review and a quorum) at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25, at the Recreation Center. The agenda will be posted onsite at 615 Prospect St. ahead of the meeting. ♦