Playing with Sharks: Australian documentary shines light on Valerie Taylor, deep sea diver who swam with sharks

She is renowned amongst her peers for her gutsy, pioneering environmentalism over the last 50 years, but it is only now that Valerie Taylor’s legacy is being celebrated on screen.

Famously providing ‘real sharks’ for Hollywood with husband Ron, the deep-sea diver’s remarkable life is explored through breathtaking archive in the new Australian documentary Playing With Sharks, which played in competition at last week’s Sundance Film Festival.

The festival itself — the first major film event in the calendar — had to follow other major events by presenting an online-only edition, due to the ongoing pandemic.

And while the film’s star and her director Sally Aitken (David Stratton’s Stories of Australian Cinema) may not have been able to…