Scuba Documentary

[April Strickland]

I am an graduate student at NYU in the Anthropology department, as well as an avid scuba diver and SSI Assistant Instructor. I came across your website while researching wreck diving in New Jersey. I'm currently working on a documentary film on metropolitan scuba divers, specifically technical wreck divers who are diving locally in New York and New Jersey. My intention for this film is to lend some insight into the world of technical divers. I feel that a good number of films have been made about diving, but the focus tends to be almost exclusively on the underwater world. Very few documentaries represent divers as full subjects in and of themselves. Little attention, for instance, is paid to how people find meaning and community through diving, or how diving can often inform other aspects of participants' lives. I am hoping to present a more rounded portrait of scuba diving, one that integrates diving into the wider contexts of practice and place.

I'm currently looking for underwater salvage experts--divers or collectors--who would be interested in talking about their underwater experiences and collections. I am also in search of underwater footage of technical dives. If you know anyone who would be interested in participating in this project, either in being interviewed or sharing their underwater footage, I can be contacted via e-mail at ajs366@nyu.edu. Please feel free to forward this e-mail on to interested parties.

Sincerely,

April Strickland
New York University