The spectacular blend of the diving industry’s best and biggest names in photography and underwater adventure gather at the Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort on the Seven Mile Beach.

For one night only, scuba enthusiasts and lovers of an audio/video feast of beautiful imagery will be treated to a fantastic display of photographic talents and stories from around the globe.

The film festival, organised by the Cayman Islands Tourism Association (CITA), is the second event in a high profile week for scuba divers around the world, which kicks off with the annual Induction Ceremony for the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame on 25 January.

Each presenter at the Film Festival is a headliner, featuring topics from whales to the ‘Titanic’, new species discoveries from the Asia/Pacific region to surviving a horrific attack from a Great White shark.

Mixed together with a good dose of humour and unparalleled story telling and the audience will be guaranteed a memorable night, CITA said.

Rodney Fox, savagely mauled by a great white shark in 1963 will enthrall patrons with his death defying story and how it has turned him into one of his attacker’s strongest defenders and protectors.

He is one of the world’s leading authorities on these feared and majestic animals and has consulted with National Geographic and worked on movies such as ‘Jaws’ and ‘Blue Water White Death’.

One of the worlds leading pioneers of the dive travel industry, Carl Roessler, has been on several of Rodney Fox’s white shark film expeditions and is expected to thrill his audience with his photos in this field.

Mr Roessler’s vast collection of underwater images has been widely published; his sojourns around the world and his enthusiastic storytelling will have the audience at the edge of their seats.

Along with the fascinating shark presentations, the evening will be shared with Neville Coleman, a household name in the Southern Hemisphere for his prolific discovery of marine life species, his hundreds of thousand of images and volume of scientific and educational books.

Mr Coleman’s travels around the exotic Asia/Pacific marine world will fascinate young and old.

He has lectured in many countries, including the US and will entertain verbally and visually on anything from fish and mollusks to reef creatures and marine birds and is a respected photographic environmentalist.

Anchoring the evening will be Stan Waterman, a great friend of the Cayman Islands and Emmy award winner with his son for ‘Dancing with Stingrays’.

A renowned underwater cameraman and pioneer of the field since the 1950s, Waterman will delight the audience with his wonderful wit and obvious love of telling others about his lifetime of marine adventures.

Anyone with an interest in seeing beautiful world-class underwater photography and an opportunity to meet the photographers will greatly enjoy this rare event.

A fundraising silent auction will take place prior to the festival and during the intermission.

A great range of goods will be available for purchase including an original acrylic on canvas painting by Ron Stevens (better known as Rogest) painted in the Australian aboriginal ‘dot’ art style. Hotel, dive restaurant and other exciting items will be on auction.

The event is organized by the Cayman Islands Tourism Association and sponsored by the Marriott Beach Resort and Divers Alert Network (DAN).