Herzogenaurach, Germany, 14 October, 2011 – Sportlifestyle company PUMA, through its PUMA.Creative programme, has unveiled the environmental documentary film short HOME OCEANS, as part of a larger ocean preservation education campaign. The never-before-seen short film is from Yann Arthus-Bertrand, the director of the visually-stunning environmental documentary with 500 million views, HOME – a film that PUMA.Creative supported through the French luxury goods group, PPR. Designed to educate and inform, the 10-minute HOME OCEANS highlights marine issues of:  rising floodwaters, the depletion of sea mammals and sea birds, changes to ecosystems, coral reefs and much more. The film will be available for public viewing at each of the 10 Volvo Ocean Race global stopover ports, with a premiere at race start in Alicante, Spain at the Volvo Ocean Race Dome and PUMA Quad.
 
“Part of our long-term sustainability initiatives at PUMA is to help raise awareness and promote positive actions for environmental issues; this includes the preservation of our world’s oceans and marine life,” said Jochen Zeitz, Chairman of the Board of PUMA and CEO Sports & Lifestyle Group and Chief Sustainability Officer of PPR. “Our participation in the upcoming Volvo Ocean Race gives us an ideal backdrop to share the amazing imagery and powerful message of the HOME OCEANS film. The film will be viewed around the world, and we hope that it will inspire people to contribute positively to the planet,” he added.

In keeping with the style of the original film, HOME OCEANS approaches the topic of climate change from a unique perspective using only aerial photography to illustrate the transformations made to the earth. The short film not only features the problems facing the open seas, but ways the human race can make changes to help slow down the issues at hand before more damage occurs.  Footage was captured in Antarctica, North Pole, Africa, the United States and other locations.

HOME OCEANS is edited by renowned editor, Claire Ferguson, and has voiceovers in seven languages – Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, English, French, Mandarin, Portuguese and Spanish.

“The HOME OCEANS film shows how reliant we are on the oceans for everything from food, to transport, right down to the air that we breathe, and our fate is intertwined with what happens to them,” said Claire Ferguson. “The film projects a message of concern but also one of hope…there is time to change.”

Free screenings of the film will take place at the Volvo Ocean Race stop-over ports at the PUMA Quad and select venues such as local aquariums and history museums. The screenings are in addition to story time readings of the educational book “Marmo Saves Our Seas” with PUMA’s octopus mascot, Marmo, and other related activities. For a schedule of events, visit: http://puma.com/sailing. Film screenings at other sporting events will be announced at a later date.

Additional information about the film and PUMA’s ocean preservation education campaign can be found at: http://vision.puma.com.