Inspiring films makes waves at UNOC3

The films are the result of a collaboration between sustainability scientist and futures thinker Andrew Merrie from Stockholm Resilience Centre; media and film researcherJohn Lynch from Karlstad University;  the international art and advocacy foundation TBA 21; and the digital design studio Inferstudio. Rather than offering easy answers or tidy resolutions, MANA, HAVSRÅ, and MATSYA offer richly textured, speculative glimpses into what the oceans could become in the decades ahead.

As Merrie puts it, “The purpose of the films is not to provide all the answers and point to perfect ocean futures where everything is in balance. They exist to provoke reflection and debate.”

At a time when scientific warnings about ocean acidification, biodiversity collapse, and deep-sea mining often land with numbing regularity, Merrie argues that what’s missing is a way to feel these futures – to emotionally inhabit them, however briefly, and consider the choices still available.

“The future does not exist yet. A key focus of these films is to foreground the idea of agency and action, in order to inspire viewers to think proactively about the future,” says Merrie, and continues with an important notion: “They invite audiences to consider what might change when we act with courage, integrity, and anticipation – rather than reacting to a seemingly inevitable future out of distraction, desperation, or fear.”

The OcéanoFuturismos films were created as part of a collaboration between sustainability scientist and futures thinker Andrew Merrie; media and film researcherJohn Lynch from Karlstad University; the international art and advocacy foundation TBA 21; and the digital design studio Inferstudio.

Science fiction prototyping

Each film in the trilogy builds its world around the latest scientific research and applies a technique Merrie calls "science-fiction prototyping" – a method he first employed in his Radical Ocean Futures project. This approach combines a robust scientific evidence-base with techniques from storytelling, weaving them together into imagined future scenarios.

In MANA, the Polynesian concept of sacred life-force and political authority is reimagined through the creation of a Marine Archipelago Nations Alliance, governing a vast ocean protectorate via AI-powered decision systems. The story turns on a technological failure during a violent storm, raising unsettling questions about multispecies justice and the limits of governance built on data alone.

HAVSRÅ, drawing from Norse mythology, follows an activist collective leveraging remote sensing and 3D imaging to document vulnerable deep-sea landscapes targeted for mining. It challenges prevailing industrial narratives that frame these regions as lifeless and disposable, asking instead who gets to decide what remains visible – and what is erased.

And in MATSYA, named for the fish avatar of Vishnu who warns of a world-ending flood, the future has already arrived: seas have risen, plastic chokes the water, and cultural heritage is at risk of being submerged and forgotten. Through a poetic, unnamed narrator, the film questions what, and who, is worth preserving in a time of accelerating loss.

A dynamic and open space

The reaction from delegates, policy makers, scientists, and activists at the launch in Nice was immediate. Merrie noted how the films quickly sparked the kinds of conversations he had hoped for.

“A common point of feedback is how effective the films are at showing how disconnected change processes, emerging technologies and scientific signals in the present may come together in the future – and what kinds of worlds they might create,” he says.

Unlike the often sterile language of policy documents, these films lean into complexity and ambiguity. They do not shy away from dystopian possibilities but also resist the temptation of exaggerated utopian optimism. Instead, they inhabit a space Merrie describes as “dynamic and open rather than inevitable and closed.”

Good science needs good storytellers

The plan now is to move beyond UNOC3. Screenings in Stockholm and elsewhere are in the works, alongside further workshops and discussions designed to use these speculative futures as tools for what Merrie calls “radical backcasting” – working from imagined future scenarios to shape present-day decisions and action.

Looking ahead to the next UN Ocean Conference in Busan, South Korea in two years’ time, Merrie hopes these films will inspire others to build their own visions.

“We think good science needs equally good storytellers,” he said. “We need every single tool and every ounce of scientific insight, imagination, and creativity we possess in order to secure a liveable future on a thriving and resilient planet.”

For now, MANA, HAVSRÅ, and MATSYA, offer a timely reminder: while the ocean’s future remains uncertain, it is not yet decided.