Choy Aming’s first film drew out the crowds on Wednesday night at the Bermuda International Film Festival.

By 5 p.m. hopeful viewers were queuing to buy rush tickets for the sold out 6.30 showing.

Mr. Aming’s film ‘My Backyard’ — which he himself had not even seen on the big screen yet — was already a festival hit — both its Wednesday night showing at BUEI and last night’s at Little Theatre were sold out early in the week.

The 30-minute documentary takes you into Mr. Aming’s world — the waters around Bermuda. It opens with the film-maker himself chatting with the camera about his home.

It is immediately obvious that the marine biologist and tour boat operator feels most at home in the water and as he cuts to underwater footage, viewers get a personal tour of the deep.

The film does not have a particular uniformity of tone — the first portion of it is the lightest and could almost be a tourism video or National Geographic programme for kids.

Mr. Aming’s affable character is the key to making it work. The viewers feel like they are hanging out underwater which the film-maker and his buddies — the creatures of Bermuda’s waters.

Narrating through the footage, the film introduces viewers both to fish commonly sighted by snorkellers and divers like the Parrot Fish to much more rare species only experts could possibly help to spot.

The second portion of the film moves on to explain the Argus and Challenger Banks, before talking about the differences in the sea creatures found in those areas with those more immediately offshore.

In both these sections of the film, the underwater footage is really quite incredible considering this was a first-time film-making effort with a non-existent budget.

It does not have the glossy crispness of professional effort, but it does offer surprisingly up close views of a variety of species, while the viewer learns about their behaviours.

It makes you want to jump into the water with a tank immediately to try and get a closer look yourself.

But for many I am sure the highlight of the film was the third portion which focused on sharks and whales.

The films introduces a team of marine professionals who have constructed their own shark cage to get closer to the Tiger sharks common 15 miles off Bermuda.

It is incredible to think this footage was captured by casual film-makers with an affinity for the sea and its inhabitants.

As you watch a Tiger shark rip apart a Marlin head the team used for bait, you can almost feel the vibrations in the water.

The Bermuda Shark Project hopes to begin tagging sharks to learn more about the behaviour of sharks in local waters — at the moment, almost nothing is known.

Similarly breathtaking are the images of one of the migrations of the Humpback whales. Mr. Aming has captured both their showmanship and their magnificence.

And for humour he manages also to include a truly Bermudian reaction to the whales from one of the boat patrons on the film’s voicetrack.

Throughout the entire film, Mr. Aming makes an unimposing but effective case for conservation and preserving this wonderland about Bermuda.

He offers statistics from the rapid rate of decreasing species to the long life of plastic in our waters but does not cross into information overload.

This film would make a wonderful teaching vehicle for Island schoolchildren with its clear message about caring for the world around you.

After the film, Mr. Aming said a number of teachers have already approached him about making it available to their classrooms.

But for anyone at all interested in Bermuda’s environment the film is a must. A true triumph for the ambitious new film-maker.