The Cove Wins an Oscar

Dave Rastovich helps spearhead one of the protests surfers took part in at the Killing Cove in Taiji, Japan.

The 2010 Academy Awards took place tonight, and atop the glamor and glitz of Hollywood careers stood one very surf-centric documentary – one that Dave Rastovich and the global surf community at large played an indispensable role in supporting: The Cove.

Winner of the 2010 Best Documentary Feature Category, The Cove functions as an international espionage tale – exposing the dolphin slaughter and captivity trades that have become relatively common practices in Taiji, Japan. Said Fisher Stevens in his acceptance speech for the film, “I just want to say that it was an honor to work on this film and to try to make an entertaining film that also tries to enlighten everybody.”

A small uproar has already begun in Japan, as the Mayor of Taiji issued a statement denouncing the film’s attitude toward Japanese customs and took issue with some of the facts and statistics relayed in the film itself.

While the award cements dolphin slaughter as a controversial topic under public scrutiny for years to come, tonight’s events seem to make one thing much less debatable. This may be the first and only movie to win an Oscar that features surfboards and real surfers doing something they’re passionate about. - Zach Weisberg