Broken Breath at ISFF 2024

Broken Breath at the Intaernational Spoto Film Festival 2024.

Synopsis “Broken Breath”

Air is our first source of nourishment and breathing is the act that enables it. Too often we give this for granted. Mike Maric, world free diving champion and researcher, teaches people how to breathe. This is the story of how he got started.
In 2005 Mike, at the peak of his athletic career, lost his best friend in an accident at sea. The untimely death of Philip, his most trusted assistant during his free-diving competitions, leads Mike into a deep crisis that prompts him to give up competitive free-diving. He travels between Hawaii and the Bahamas and back to Croatia, his native country, in search of a light, pursuing a contact with nature embodied by his guide animal, the dolphin, a symbol of the life cycle of death and rebirth.
From his encounter with these wonderful mammals, Mike finds a new and deeper balance. Within a few years Mike developed a breath training method and became a coach to Olympic athletes, contributing to many of their international successes with workouts performed in Y-40, the world’s deepest thermal water pool. The trauma caused by a bereavement was an opportunity to face a path of rebirth and apnea the way to learn more about himself.

Morgan Bertacca is the director of Broken Breath

A director, screenwriter and documentary producer, he has worked for more than 25 years in the film and television industry in Italy. Among his most important collaborations is with the famous trio of comic actors Aldo Giovanni e Giacomo, with whom he has written and directed successful films and TV shows. With his production company Mooz Film, he has produced – both as author and director – several sports documentaries known and broadcasted in Italy and beyond. His films were received prizes at several international documentary film festivals.

Credit Broken Breath

Morgan Bertacca Director
Mike Maric Key Cast”Mike Maric”
Marta Rossi Film Editor
Fabio Ferioli Underwater Operator
Matteo Inzani Operator
Fabio Ferioli Operator
Fabio Ferioli Cinematographer
Rolando Marchesini Sound Editor
Mike Maric Producer
Y-40® The Deep Joy Producer
Giovanni Boaretto Executive Producer
Mike Maric Executive Producer
Morgan Bertacca Executive Producer
Itaca The Outdoor Community Distributor
Action Advanced Communication Communications and Press Office
Champions for Change Sponsored by

Specification of  “Broken Breath”

Project Title (Original Language): Broken Breath
Project Type: Documentary, Short
Runtime: 24 minutes 40 seconds
Completion Date: October 1, 2022
Production Budget: 8,000 EUR
Country of Origin: Italy
Country of Filming: Bahamas, Croatia, Italy
Language: Italian
Shooting Format: Digital 4K
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Film Color: Color
First-time Filmmaker: No
Student Project: No

Screenenig/Awards Broken Breath

• Ocean Film Festival Italia

  Italy
  Italy
  October 10, 2022
  Italy
• Caorle Indipendent Film Festival

  Caorle
  Italy
  September 24, 2023
  Best Editing
• Canadian Sport Film Festival

  Toronto
  Canada
  November 17, 2023
  Official Selection
• Ocean Film Festival World Tour

  Australia
  Australia
  March 3, 2023
  Australia
  Official Selection

Photo Broken Breath