Petaluma filmmaker’s “Great White Lego Movie” to be shown at SF’s Sharktoberfest

When Petaluma 7th-grader Lakan Duskin was in 4th grade at Mary Collins/Cherry Valley School, he used a large set of Legos to create a delightfully fact-filled, animated documentary titled “Great White Sharks!“

The film begins with the attention-grabbing statement, ”Off the coast of the Farallon Islands roams an apex predator 21-feet in length eating everything it can sink its teeth into. This is the Great White Shark!” Duskin, who narrates the film himself, uses clever stop-motion animation to depict sharks swimming, giving birth, eating seals, and being hunted by ”finners“ who catch the sharks only to cut their fins off for soup.

“It's so timeless and educational, it has shown at the International Ocean Film Festival and will show at the upcoming Sharktoberfest Movie Night,” explains Petaluma resident Jennifer Stock, the education and outreach coordinator for the Greater Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries.

The movie night takes place Saturday, Sept. 24 from 5:30-8:30 p.m. at Crissy Park in San Francisco. Specifically, the event is at the Greater Farallones Visitor Center Outdoor Campus, 991 Marine Drive, in the Presidio, where an afternoon of shark-tastic activities is planned before the 7:30 p.m. screening of films, including Duskin’s three-minute charmer, succinctly listed in the program as “Great White Lego Movie.”

For more information visit Farallones.noaa.gov.