Where Devils Return - Jasmine Corbett

Author´s country of origin: United Kingdom.
Filming location: Portugal.
Running time: 13 minutes.
Language: English with Spanish subtitles.
Award: TALENTO FEMENINO Award.

Where Devils Return is a short documentary filmed in the Azores, one of the few places on the planet where sickle-fin manta rays, an endangered species, gather in seasonal groups. At the Ambrósio seamount, off the coast of Santa Maria Island, marine biologist Ana Filipa Sobral and the team from ‘Manta Catalog Azores’, a project affiliated with the Manta Trust, reveal the hidden lives of these elusive ocean giants. Through photographic identification, cutting-edge research and collaboration with local tour operators, they are beginning to understand why these manta rays return… and why this place is so important.

Combining immersive underwater cinematography with intimate human stories, the film explores cross-species curiosity, cultural shifts in the perception of devil rays and the growing pressures they face due to overfishing and unregulated tourism. As global populations decline, Where Devils Return asks what it means to protect not just a species, but a relationship between people, science and the sea, and whether places like the Azores can become a model for responsible coexistence.