The Explorers Club World Oceans Week – Day 5

Oceans Week Friday will illuminate the mysterious squids of the deep ocean through a film screening, and end with our famous WOW closing party.

Friday
5:00 pm – A Life Illuminated

Our squid ambassador session features a screening and convo on the new film about marine biologist Edie Widder, first to film a live giant squid in U.S. waters.
Synopsis: A Life Illuminated follows trailblazing marine biologist Dr. Edie Widder—one of the first women in her field and one of the first humans to explore the ocean’s twilight zone—as she descends 3,300 feet into the ocean’s darkest depths. From capturing the first-ever footage of the elusive giant squid to unveiling the glowing mysteries of deep-sea bioluminescence, Edie embarks on her most daring quest yet: to document a bioluminescent phenomenon that could forever change how we understand life on Earth.
Featuring: Dr. Edie Widder (remote) and in-person Filmmakers Tasha Van Zant and Sebastian Zeck, and Erika Montague, Chief of Technology, Schmidt Marine Technology Partner. Moderated by Gaelin Rosenwaks.

7:00 pm – Roots & Tides Party

Enter the mangrove to close the week with a party like none other — an ecosystem of experience awaits. Featuring foods, fashion, and music inspired by the biodiverse waterways connecting sea to shore. Come and celebrate where water becomes ocean.

With live sounds from the stars of NPR’s Tiny Desk Grupo Rebolú, tastes of the Caribbean provided by Brooklyn’s top Colombian restaurant Palenque, and a living exhibition by Alejandra Parra Parodi, fresh from the runways of Parsons School of Design’s 2026 MFA program, with models wearing pieces crafted from iraca fiber, a natural material that grows within mangrove ecosystems woven through ancestral techniques from the coastal community of Usiacurí, Colombia.