UK premiere of Shark Town to be hosted by Shark Trust in Bristol

The UK premiere of Shark Town, a new documentary film by author, broadcaster and past Shark Trust Chair Richard Peirce, will be hosted by the Shark Trust at the Megascreen in Bristol in July.

Attendees will also get the chance to chat to Richard at a special live Q&A after the film.

A Shark Trust short documentary, Living with Sharks in The Bahamas, will be screened alongside the main event, in which the Shark Trust spoke to people in The Bahamas about their experiences living alongside a shark sanctuary.

The premieres will be part of this year’s Shark Month, during which the Shark Trust will host a number of events in Plymouth and Bristol.

Visitors are invited to celebrate and support the vital work of the Shark Trust while enjoying a ‘month-long extravaganza of shark and ray science, entertainment and advocacy’.

A ‘real-life JAWS flipover’

Shark Town is described as ‘a real-life JAWS flipover’, a fast-paced film in which Peirce takes shark enthusiasts on a voyage of discovery to the South African coastal town of Gansbaai, self-styled as ‘The Great White Shark Capital of the World’.

Gansbaai, located in Walker Bay, Western Cape, faced disaster when its great white population suddenly disappeared, before an unexpected ‘toothy saviour’ swam in to save the day.

The region is home to many shark and whale species, and boasts an extraordinarily rich marine environment, factors which have inspired world-class conservation measures and leading marine science.

Richard has been part of the Walker Bay scene for nearly 30 years, and according to the Shark Trust, his Shark Town movie ‘opens a window to a real JAWS story’.

Live Q&A Session

Marine Dynamics, in Gansbaai, hosts shark watching tours as part of its research programme (Photo: Shark Trust)

At the end of the screening, the audience will be invited to ask questions of both Richard Peirce and Paul Cox.

Richard Peirce is a successful author, filmmaker, presenter and freelance writer, who has has been fortunate enough to encounter some of the world’s most iconic species.

Peirce was one of the earliest members of the Shark Trust, which was founded in 1997, and later joined the Board and served as Chairman of the trust for 12 years. He is a committed wildlife conservationist who now spends his time on a variety of conservation projects.

Paul Cox has been CEO of the Shark Trust since 2015 and is a leading voice in ocean stewardship and shark science. His small team now helps to shape international treaties and mobilises mass digital campaigns for the world’s 1,200-plus shark and ray species.