The Subios underwater festival dove into action on Saturday October 11 in the evening with a public screening of entries to its underwater photography and film contest.

Seychellois young and old, along with a considerable amount of visitors from abroad, filed into the International Conference Centre for the official opening of the Sub Indian Ocean Seychelles (Subios) underwater festival and a chance to review the submissions to this year’s contest.

Entries were judged across three categories – photography, digital photography and short five-minute films.

The contest featured a number of foreign entries, but Seychelles was also represented with its share of submissions, said John Boyle, the international coordinator for Subios.

Mr Boyle, who hosted the evening’s events, walked the audience through the various entries, which featured a colourful assortment of unusual fish, sea turtles, dolphins and other snapshots of underwater life.

The contest for short films included 10 entries, some of which were filmed in Seychelles waters.  Others were shot as far away as the Bahamas and the South Pacific.

A last minute entry, filmed in Seychelles just last week, garnered its share of laughs from the audience as it captured a whale shark’s intimacy with the hull of the film crew’s boat.

Before the screening, Minister for Tourism and Transport Simone De Comarmond officially declared the festival open with a call to all stakeholders involved with diving and the tourism sector to embrace activities like Subios and promote Seychelles as both a premiere tourism and diving destination.

Minister De Comarmond also announced that the Seychelles Tourism Marketing Authority will be sponsoring a stand in the world’s largest underwater festival antiThe winners of the Subios photography and film awards, along the winners of the children’s art and creative writing contest, will be announced on October 18, when the week-long festival draws to a close.

Following Sunday’s first Subios 2003 “Splash” event at the Subios Village in Beau Vallon, the coming week will see a number of presentations by local and international guest speakers.

An exhibition by Swiss-born artist Kim Delorie will be launched Monday October 13, and Wednesday October 15 will feature the world premiere of Mr Boyle’s film “Undersea Homes,” followed by live entertainment by the Souls.

Free intro dives will be offered by Big Blue Divers on Tuesday October 14 and Friday October 17.

Programmes for the week’s Subios events are sold at R10, complete with an entry form to win a raffle for two free return tickets to Paris.

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