Common Pictures

In 1955, when racial segregation defined the South, two groups of twelve-year-old boys stepped onto a baseball field in a non-violent act of cultural defiance that would change the course of history.

“These animals are like ghosts,” says Carlton Ward Jr.—National Geographic explorer, photographer, and 8th generation Floridian—at the beginning of this captivating film that endeavors to keep the Florida Panther from becoming just that: a ghost. As the last big cat surviving in the eastern United States and the state animal of Florida, the panther is an icon of Florida’s ever-diminishing wild places, as revealed in the film’s sumptuous images. Leading a team that includes cowboys, wildlife biologists, photographers/videographers, and a lot of folks who simply care about the future of Florida’s fragile ecology, Ward treks repeatedly into the Everglades and expanses of South Florida to seek, record, and save these ghosts.

Terry Kennedy has lived several colorful lives, including a stint as a Hell’s Angel – but, most memorably, as the unlikely friend to a giant manta ray named Willy. Now in his 80s, Terry mounts one last diving expedition to a remote island in search of his long-lost friend.