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Young filmmakers tell little-known story of a captured Southern Resident orca

Posted on September 15th, 2025 By: Carolyn Bick

Emma and Annie Stafki grew up in a family of storytellers. For as long as they can remember, the filmmaking sisters said, one of the stories their grandparents told over and over again was of the 1968 capture of a young Southern Resident orca, Hugo, in Vaughn Bay. Whale herders stole him from his pod and sold him to the Miami Seaquarium.

It isn’t a pretty story, or a lighthearted one. Their grandparents told it so often because it left an indelible impression on them. They witnessed a child being ripped from his family, and all they could do was watch.

Years went by, marked in their grandparents’ telling and retelling of Hugo’s story. In those same years, the sisters grew up and become self-taught filmmakers, evolving from using iPhones to make “silly music video-type things with our cousins” to learning different techniques with digital cameras.

They entered film festivals, starting with the Gig Harbor Film Festival’s 72-hour filmmaking contest in 2019, when Emma (now 21) and Annie (now 16) were in eighth and third grade, respectively.

Emma and Annie Stafki

Hugo’s forgotten story

In the back of their minds, Hugo’s story persisted.

“Then when I was in college, I had a class where I had to tell an untold story, and turn it into a podcast, and I was asking Annie to brainstorm with me,” Emma recalled. “We thought of our grandparents — growing up, they had always told us the story about Hugo. … Because they witnessed the capture of him, and it was this really traumatic memory that has stuck with them.”

The sisters did some research, and found almost no stories about Hugo. The only mentions of Hugo they could find was in a book, Orca, by Jason Colby, and one article by the Dolphin Project.

So, they made a film about it.

The 30-minute documentary, Echoes of the Sound: The Story of Hugo and the Southern Resident Orcas, which has already received several film festival awards, will be shown at this year’s Gig Harbor Film Festival. The documentary is an unflinching look at Hugo’s capture and the effects it had both on him and on his pod — his family.

Decline of the Southern Residents

Like humans, orcas feel deeply and suffer complex traumas that significantly impact their lifespans. The documentary also discusses the relationship between orcas and humans, and efforts to save the Southern Residents.

Precious few Southern Residents remain. Only three pods of Southern Residents — J, K, and L pods — still swim the Puget Sound. As of April 2025, there are only 74 orcas left. They are on the verge of extinction.

Working on the project has fundamentally changed how the sisters view the world and their work as filmmakers. This change goes beyond techniques or asking for assistance or finding creative financing options (the pair finance the films on their own). They now have a clearer vision of what they want to do, both as filmmakers and as two stewards of the planet.

“Being a filmmaker, doing this film, I see … solutions to environmental problems … in little things that I never used to think about,” Annie said.

For instance, she stopped washing her car in the driveway after someone they interviewed for the documentary told them this means that toxic chemicals are more likely to make it into the water. At a car wash, drainage systems prevent this.

“Just like little things,” Annie continued. “I think [making this documentary] definitely changed how I tend to function.”

Hugo in an image from the trailer for “Echoes of the Sound: The Story of Hugo and the Southern Resident Orcas.”

Environmental documentarians

“We’ve stepped into more of this role as environmental documentarians,” Emma said. “I always really cared about the environment, but I feel like I see it all and the importance in a different way now, especially seeing the Southern Resident orcas, because that is at such a critical point right now.”

The pair have also become acquainted with other environmental activists through their work, both in the field and at film festivals, and have learned about other ways people can protect and restore orca populations.

One critical aspect of orca health is salmon health, Emma said. Southern Resident orcas particularly rely on chinook salmon as a food source. For example, from what they have learned, Emma said, breaching the Snake River dams would go a long way towards ensuring Southern Residents have the food they need to survive and grow again.

Both sisters also see a need for stronger legislation and visibility. This includes writing to elected officials to express support for environmental initiatives and laws that will support protection and restoration efforts.

As bleak as the situation might seem right now, not all hope is lost. Humans can still save the Southern Residents. There is still time to make it right.

“It’s really important that we educate people on the history of our Southern Resident orcas, where they’re at now, and how critical it is that we make a change right now and we figure out a solution,” Emma said. “Otherwise, they will be gone and they will go extinct. They are such a unique group of orcas and they have such deep cultural roots that we are only even beginning to understand and it would be tragic to lose that. It’s so important that we keep doing everything that we can.”

Film Festival

The Stafkis’ documentary, Echoes of the Sound, will be included in an 87-minute collection of Washington-made documentaries shown at the Gig Harbor Film Festival. The film collection that includes Echoes of the Sound will play at 9 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 26 and 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27.

The festival runs from Sept. 25-28 at the Galaxy Theatres in Uptown Gig Harbor. There will also be an awards breakfast on Sept. 28. Readers can find a festival program here, and tickets here. Read more of our coverage of the film festival here.