HelpDolphins.ORG
Charles and "The Cove" movie
Helpdolphins.org was created to help stop the dolphin drive hunt and dolphin slaughter in Taiji, Japan and fight the dolphin captivity industry globally. Helpdolphins.org is a vehicle to utilize my unique experience and skillset to help the cause.
In 2006 I took a break while working on Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man's Chest for the first of five trips to the now infamous "Killing Cove" in Taiji, Japan where I met Ric O'Barry. I had left the Pirates of the Caribbean set in The Bahamas with Pirates Director Gore Verbinski's blessing : "Charles, at the end of the day a Pirate movie is two hours and a box of popcorn - what you are doing will make a difference". On the subsequent five trips to Japan over the next several years with a growing team assembled by a famous photographer friend, I planned all the covert missions, recorded field audio, did time-lapse photography, introduced and filmed all the thermal imaging, and went inside the infamous heavily guarded "Killing Cove" eighteen times to film the famous "Slaughter Sequence" that shocked the world. The Cove movie was an international success winning more awards than any movie ever made including the 2010 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. The movie importantly it exposed this obscene practice to the world and ignited international outcry. The Cove movie made a difference.
Although there has been a dramatic decline in Dolphin deaths (down 84%) over the past decade in Taiji, the practice continues with only Ric O'Barry and his team still working actively, directly, and tirelessly on the issue. I started Helpdolphins.org as a vehicle to utilize my unique experience and skillset to help the cause.
Recently I have been working on several other movies, leading expeditions that discovered ancient civilizations, and recovering from injuries. Having seen the atrocious cruelty first hand so many times, I feel the need to finish the work we started in The Cove movie, and once again, I am focusing on that little cove in Taiji to put an end to the dolphin drive hunt and create a positive and lasting solution for the predominantly good people of Taiji, and all Japanese people. Helpdolphins.org also serves as a source of information from reputable organizations that I support in their work not only helping dolphins and whales, but helping our oceans and environmental issues in general.
Speaking after "The Cove" China premier screening in Shanghai 2010.
About Charles
Bio
Charles Hambleton
Explorer, Academy Award winning Film Producer, Cameraman, Sailor, Diver, Musician
From a Pan American Airways family, Charles has lived all over the world and traveled in over 60 countries. He studied English at Roanoke College and Environmental Microbiology at University of Vermont. Charles co-founded The Fox Theater and the recording/touring band, The Samples in Boulder, CO. A waterman at heart, Charles moved from London to Antigua, West Indies in 1991.
Charles is a PADI Dive Master, Technical Diving Institute Nitrox Diver, IANTD Re-breather diver, Royal Yachting Association Yacht Master, an FAA Part 61 licenced Private Pilot, and FAA Part 107 licenced UAV Pilot. Charles worked as a Divemaster and treasure hunter in the Caribbean where he co-discovered the French Fleet of 1678 in Islas Las Aves, Venezuela. In the mid 1990's he used Side Scan Sonar in Lake Superior to map valuable Old Growth Timber to be used for high end furniture and musical instruments and his clients included Johnny Cash, The Eagles, Bill Ford, and Robert Redford.
Charles is filmmaker known for his work as producer and as himself on the 2009 Academy Award winning documentary, The Cove (2009), , The Big Fix (2012) and Vanishing Sail (2015) and Racing Extinction (2015). Charles is responsible for filming most of the infamous "Slaughter Sequence" inside the Killing Cove that shocked the world and major portions of the movie including the movie's Thermal Imaging covert cinematography. He served as a Sail Master and Marine Department on four of the Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise movies. Always pursuant to new technology, Charles introduced Thermal Imaging filming in The Cove movie and is a Infrared Training Center Level 1 Thermographer.
The eve after winning the 2010 Academy Award for The Cove, Charles conceived and led a covert operation to bust the Santa Monica restaurant, The Hump, for serving endangered species SEI Whale meat. He covertly filmed and busted another restaurant for the same illegal service in Seoul, South Korea in conjunction with KEFM (Korean Federation Environmental Movement), Dr. Scott Baker, and the Seoul Police. His work with Dr. Scott Baker and KEFM is published in the scientific journal, Biology Letters. He went undercover again in China and filmed Shark fin, Manta Ray gill, and Whale Shark oil smuggling operations. He is also an artist and paints from his vast collection of thermal images described in his talk at TEDx Maui. Lately Charles has been implementing the latest Drone technologies and utilizing Augmented/Virtual Reality Solutions to work towards alternatives to Dolphin Captivity.
Charles also serves as an advisor for Ocean Voyages Institute which successfully removed over 170 tons of Ghost Nets and plastic marine debris from its 2020 expedition to the Pacific Plastic Gyre.
In Action
Covert Thermal Imaging
Special Projects
Awards for "The Cove" documentary
Experience
Experience
Experience
Approach
Experience
Experience