Seahorses look like creatures from a fairy tale. For underwater cinematographer Woody Spark, they become something deeply personal. Told as a teenager that he would never be able to have biological children, Woody is captivated by an animal in which the male carries and gives birth to its young.
Beneath the ferries and bustle of Sydney Harbour, and along the battered coastline of Port Stephens, the White’s Seahorse—found nowhere else on Earth—is disappearing as its seagrass and coral habitats are destroyed by coastal development and repeated floods. Marine biologists Mitch Brennan and Dr Dave Harasti are mounting an ambitious response: raising hundreds of juveniles in experimental “seahorse schools”, preparing them for life in the ocean and returning them to the wild.
At first, Woody is simply there to film. But as he joins Mitch and Dave before dawn, waits for the rare moment of birth and follows wild seahorse pairs through a hidden underwater world, the line between observer and participant begins to blur. Their work—and their different experiences of fatherhood—lead Woody towards questions he has long avoided: what it means to nurture, what we choose to leave behind, and how to let go when the future remains uncertain.
Combining cinematic underwater natural-history photography with intimate observational storytelling, Seahorse School is a moving and hopeful film about science, survival, fatherhood and the many forms a legacy can take.
The documentary will be available in two versions: a 90-minute cinematic feature, centred on Woody’s personal journey, and a 60-minute science-led version, with greater emphasis on the breeding programme, habitat restoration and the race to rebuild wild populations.