New Haven Independent

SEA-TV on Whitney Avenue in New Haven has just won two Platinum Awards at the 41st annual Worldfest film festival in Houston, Texas for their documentary, High Seas Schooner. They won the top awards both for the feature length documentary and for the 90 second preview of the production.

SEA-TV producers Chip Croft and Anneka Banton (pictured) received the awards at the gala banquet Saturday, April 19th.at the Houston Intercontinental Hotel.

High Seas Schooner chronicles a three week voyage on the classic100 foot wooden schooner, Harvey Gamage as it sails from the Virgin Islands to Gloucester, Massachusetts. In the North Atlantic the schooner encounters storms and high seas. Rigging breaks and the skills of the crew are tested as they battle the extreme conditions.

“This is a documentary for anyone who wants to know what it feels like to be out there on the high seas on a classic wooden sailboat,” says SEA-TV Producer, Chip Croft (pictured at the story’s top). We produced it with minimal narration so that the viewer can get the true feeling of being on the ship. This was one of our toughest shoots. At times we were shooting in 50 mph winds and over 30 ft. seas.”

Worldfest is one of the oldest and largest film festivals in the world, with over 4,500 entries received from 37 countries. It was founded by award-winning producer/director Hunter Todd to present a quality film festival for independent filmmakers. Among the remarkable number of Worldfest discoveries are Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, George Lucas, Ridley Scott and Peter Weir.

These are the ninth and tenth film festival awards for SEA-TV. To see the preview, click on the play arrow.