SALTY SLATE Ltd.

🌿🌊 Our latest doc, SEAWEED: A Love Story, has been named a winner at the Films for the Forest festival. Hosted by Rainforest Partnership Films for the Forest celebrates powerful storytelling that uplifts Indigenous and local communities protecting some of the world’s most vital ecosystems.

We’re incredibly honoured to be part of a line-up shaped by Oscar-nominated voices like Richard Linklater and Michael Blizzard, with the evening emceed by Hugh Forrest.

To have an ocean story recognised in this space feels deeply meaningful… a reminder that what happens below the surface is inseparable from the health of our forests above.

Yewwww!

Explore Your Coast Nicole Miller

🚨 Update: South Taranaki Screening Cancelled!

🌊🍿 Moana-Inspired Movie Night Anyone? We're delighted to be partnering with Wild for Taranaki to bring Taranaki - like no other, two epic movie screenings to celebrate Seaweek 2026!

🎟️ The best part? It’s completely FREE to attend! (Just save yourself a seat at the links below).

Come along and enjoy three short ocean documentaries highlighting the incredible conservation work of three kiwi citizen science projects:

REEF REVOLUTION (2019): Featuring Project Reef Life - South Taranaki
📍Filmed = South Taranaki Bight

MANTA WATCH (2022): Featuring Manta Watch New Zealand
📍Filmed = Hauraki Gulf

SEAWEED, A LOVE STORY (2025): Featuring Explore Your Coast
📍Filmed = Wellington Harbour

🎤 Have a citizen science project you’d love to turn into a short film?
Bring your salty filmmaking questions along! After the screenings, join a Q&A with our founder Bec Pratt, director of all three documentaries, who will share some of the behind-the-scenes mahi that goes into creating these ocean stories.

🎟️ Film Screening NORTH: https://govettbrewster.com/cinema/film/seaweek-cinema-an-afternoon-of-ocean-films?fbclid=IwVERDUAQcRD9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeGTHtD0LKr1qv0dvk9hnmDgQ0o4yYETPW57auuyaIUjVqhptlw4vQQYE30Yk_aem_r9s5832qI1IuMHM1PQ_kSg

🎟️ Film Screening SOUTH: https://events.humanitix.com/seaweek-cinema-south-an-evening-of-ocean-films?fbclid=IwVERDUAQcQ9VjbGNrBBw_N2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR4Yk24ND0Gb7oh18v1rdiL3g_aDrAeiDjvgZe8xTQTKyDkiZThlDtN7cTydIA_aem_l_tv5v5alUJBvkF6qFsLLQ

Our founder recently spoke with AUT - Auckland University of Technology for their alumni series, sharing reflections on how this company began. Thanks to the crew at AUT for the feature! Link below to read more.

🐠🐙🐟🦈🐳

https://www.aut.ac.nz/student-profiles/rebecca-pratt

🎙️ Today our founder Bec Pratt jumped on RNZ’s The Panel with Wallace Chapman to talk all things ‘Shelf Life’ - the first children’s book produced by Salty Slate.

🐟 Jump to 9:35 to hear about the colourful reefs just offshore of South Taranaki, and many other ocean stories along this coastline, which inspired the book’s world and characters.

🎵 Catch Bec’s full interview on RNZ and dive into the magic behind Shelf Life:

The Panel Plus for 11 December 2025 An extra half hour of The Panel with Wallace Chapman, where to begin, he's joined by Nights host Emile Donovan. Then: Bec Pratt grew up diving around the hundreds of reefs off the coast of South Taranaki. They inspired her to go overseas and start a career in documentary filmmaking. After years work...

“I want to inspire kids, get them under that blue surface.” – Bec

🌊 Our founder Bec recently sat down with Taranaki Daily News to chat about Salty Slate’s latest mahi – children’s book Shelf Life / Paenga Ora, and South Taranaki's real offshore world of whales, vibrant reefs and shipwrecks that inspired it.

The article is online behind a paywall, but if you’re local you can grab a copy of today’s paper and have a read!
https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/360911170/storybook-takes-children-under-waves

💙 Feeling very grateful to see this little ocean project out in the world.

Aotea Utanganui - Museum of South Taranaki Puke Ariki South Taranaki Underwater Club - DiveClub Project Reef Life - South Taranaki Creative New Zealand

Storybook takes children under the waves Scuba diver Bec Pratt has written a book she wished was around when she was small, telling about the underwater world just off the coast of Taranaki.

Here at Salty Slate, we’re super excited to announce the launch of Shelf Life / Paenga Ora! 🌊

The awesome team at Aotea Utanganui - Museum of South Taranaki have created an epic child-friendly exhibition in their education room, to coincide with our launch! It features vibrant photography and films of the amazing life, offshore of South Taranaki (the place that inspired this fictional story).

About the Launch:
📍 Aotea Utanganui – Museum of South Taranaki, Pātea
🗓 Friday 13 December
⏰ 12:00pm - 1:00pm
📖 Books $25.00 (100% of profits will go toward creating more ocean educational resources)

About the Book:
• For tamariki ( ages 6 - 8 )
• Written by local South Taranaki Underwater Club - DiveClub member (and our founder) Bec Pratt
• Te Reo Māori translation by Maakere Edwards ( Aatea Solutions )
• Illustrated by Tanya Panova ( )

Synopsis:
Nina loves visiting her grandparents, whose special bookshelf holds treasures that tell stories of the moana – from whale songs to reefs to shipwrecks. But when they take her to the beach, Nina discovers that beneath the waves lies a giant shallow shelf… just like the bookshelf at her grandparents house, it’s full of life and mystery, waiting to be explored!

See you there! 🐚✨

South Taranaki District Council

🎙️ Some for you all this week! Today our founder Bec Pratt sat down with Kathy Cu***ng on Aotea FM Great Barrier Island to chat about a recent island screening of Salty Slate’s latest doc, ‘SEAWEED, A Love Story.’

The kōrero also touched on our past slate, including ‘Manta Watch,’ a local Aotea story and the ethos behind the making of this internationally awarded documentary.

Massive thanks to Kathy for the thoughtful conversation and for helping share why we do what we do: telling ocean stories that connect people to our underwater world. 🌊

You can listen to the Bec on the pod here (25mins): https://open.spotify.com/episode/7LXVJlV01lA0y8e0UpvkJc?si=W3mdZWvMTnuQ3Z2vs6gTTg

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BIG NEWS!! ✨ ‘SEAWEED, A Love Story’ has just taken home the Short Documentary Award at the Society For Ecological Restoration (SER) Film Festival!

🌍 This global conference for ecological restoration brought together 118 films from 35 countries, all highlighting the urgent, inspiring work of ecological restoration.

💡 About the conference:

“While scientific papers and technical reports document our work, film speaks a universal language that touches hearts and transforms minds. The SER Film Festival bridges the gap between technical expertise and public understanding, making the vital work of ecological restoration accessible to all.” – SER2025

👏 A massive congratulations to Nicole Miller ( Explore Your Coast ), and Salty Slate’s Producer Bec, for the countless hours spent diving WellingtonNZ’s coastline, capturing this powerful story!

🎬 Watch the trailer here: https://youtu.be/T2ttFA7ToOQ?si=RYgGinAipMQn2MN6pp