Synopsis

A whistleblower is sued for plotting to steal a walrus and falls down the rabbit hole of a personal quest against the backdrop of a movement to end marine mammal captivity.

Part-time mailman and ex-trainer at MarineLand, the iconic amusement park in Niagara Falls, Phil Demers is known as the Walrus Whisperer on Twitter, with over 27,000 followers to date. He has appeared on the Joe Rogan show four times, testified before the Canadian Senate, and is being sued for $1.5 million. His is a story about the cost and courage of speaking out when you have nothing to lose.

The Walrus and the Whistleblower is a personal tale that plays out against the swell of a paradigm shift in our relationship with animals. At its heart are questions of compassion for others, humans and animals alike, the nuances of all our stories, and the hills we are willing to die on.

Director’s statement

Phil is a childhood acquaintance. When we were growing up, he and my brother smoked pot in my parents’ backyard and squeaked through high school. Phil was always a smart ass with a quick tongue, but there was no indication he would later hone a voice on Twitter so visceral it would attract celebrities and affect the course of legislation.

 As a journalist and storyteller, I have been watching his story roll out online for over a decade. I was working as a producer at the CBC when I first saw him make headlines as a mother figure to a walrus named Smooshi. He was working as an animal trainer at MarineLand, a giant amusement park in our hometown’s backyard, a place my parents loved to take me as a kid.

 At the time, there were a handful of protesters outside the gates, but they were perceived by locals to be marginal characters in a sidelined conversation that didn’t relate to the rest of us. Everyone I knew, it seemed, loved MarineLand.

 The summer Phil broke news as a whistleblower, and the protests exploded, I had just left my job to make independent films. It was a huge story, and I was shocked. Suddenly, the kid who didn’t seem to care about much at all when we were growing up was taking on one of the brightest legacies in the region that had put us on the tourist map.

 It took me a long time to decide to make this film. Years, in fact.  I kept an eye on the story and spoke to Phil about it in a non-committal way. It felt too close to home and the risk was great. I had heard about the lawsuits launched against whistleblowers and the media, I still thought of Phil as an adolescent shit disturber, and I had happy memories of MarineLand. 

 But as time passed, I felt the paradigm shift around the issue. My questions grew louder, and I realized that what was keeping me from telling the story were the very reasons I needed to do it. And this is why I decided to make my first feature film.

Credits

Director & Writer: Nathalie Bibeau
Producers: Frederic Bohbot & Nathalie Bibeau
Editor: Vincent Guignard Cinematographer: Christian Bielz
Original Score: Anais Larocque & Raphael Reed Line Producer: Valerie Shamash Story Consultant: Christina Clark

Produced in association with CBC documentary Channel, CBC The Nature of Things

Specifications

Genre: Documentary
Category: Society, Human interest, POV
Production year: 2020
Language: English
Duration: 88 minutes
Delivery Format: Electronic File, DCP, BlueRay

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CANADA