A Plastic Ocean filmmaker Craig Leeson on what drives him to ‘change the world’ through impact films
- The filmmaker behind A Plastic Ocean and The Last Glaciers tells his story, from being inspired by David Attenborough to making documentaries that drive change
I was born in 1967 and grew up in Ocean Vista, a rural suburb of Burnie in Tasmania, Australia. The beach was right in front of our house and I walked along it to go to school. If I wasn’t on the beach, I was in the water surfing.
I spent a lot of time on the beach, turning over rocks in rock pools and studying animals to see how they survived between tides. It was there that I got my fascination for wildlife and developed a deep affinity for the ocean.
I didn’t realise I was a geek until about 10 years ago. As a child, I was pretty geeky about certain things – I became interested in leather work and made saddles and leather bags and then got into electronics and made short wave radios and fixed neighbours’ television sets.
Going pro
I was mad about documentaries growing up and David Attenborough was an icon. By the age of eight I could name just about every bird and tell you if it was male or female.
I studied English literature, law and economics, and wanted to be a lawyer. I liked debate and the written word and found great knowledge in books.
In 1983, the surf boat crew I was rowing with as a surf lifesaver was doing well. We were offered a position with a surf club on the Gold Coast in Queensland to compete with them professionally. We got pretty excited about it.
I told my parents it was what I wanted to do. We had a conversation about how long I could sustain that and what would happen after I turned 30 and my knees had blown out.