Another documentary about the Cape Cod shark situation will stream soon, as the film shows the aftermath of the first fatal shark bite in 82 years and how locals are struggling with the new normal.

The documentary “Great White Summer” explores the growing divide over what to do along the Cape, as a rising number of white sharks hunt for seals close to shore every summer and fall.

The filmmakers began recording a few months after 26-year-old Arthur Medici died when a great white shark bit him at Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet.

“We captured really raw emotion after the attack,” Nick Budabin, the film’s director/producer, told the Herald. “It’s a deep dive into how the community deals with this kind of trauma.”

Ultimately, Budabin hopes that viewers takeaway that the local shark situation is a complex issue, along with the importance of having a dialogue in the community.

Shark researchers estimate that hundreds of great white sharks now migrate north to the Cape every summer and fall — stalking seals near the shoreline.

In addition to the fatal shark bite, other beachgoers have been bitten and many close calls have been reported in the last decade. That has led to great angst in the community.

“This is no longer a swimming, surfing destination,” resident AJ Salerno says during the documentary. “We were out here last week. It was 80 degrees, hot as could be. Everybody wanted to jump in. Nobody did.

“… Someone’s gonna get hurt,” he added. “It’s not like it’s going to happen to everybody, but if everyone’s in the water, somebody’s going down. We knew that last year. It happened last year.”

Shark bites on humans are extremely rare, and the probability of a fatal shark attack is even lower.

“But all it takes is one (shark attack) to change the human psyche,” shark researcher Greg Skomal says in the film. “Nobody likes the idea of being bitten and killed by a wild animal of any kind… I know I can’t change the behavior of sharks and seals, but I can change my behavior. And unfortunately, that’s what we have to do.”

Heather Doyle of the Cape Cod Ocean Community group is one of the primary characters followed throughout the film. She wants to find technological solutions to prevent shark attacks.

“Doing nothing would ultimately be turning the beaches over to the sharks,” Doyle says in the film. “And that’s not something that we should allow to happen without a good, strong fight.”

Related Articles

Sharks close to Cape Cod shore shut down beaches to swimming, white shark spotted chomping on seal

Bull sharks on their way to the Massachusetts coast? ‘It won’t be long before we see them’

Cape Cod beach closes to swimming after shark sighting; shark washes up dead on Massachusetts beach

Shark spotted 20 yards off Cape Cod shore, hammerhead sightings ‘getting more common’ off Massachusetts

Sharks reportedly taking striped bass from fishermen, Cape Cod researchers tag shark near whale carcass off Scituate

Great White Summer had its world premiere at the International Ocean Film Festival in April, and will be released by Gravitas Ventures on streaming platforms on Sept. 3. People can pre-order the 79-minute film on iTunes.

Leading up to the film’s release, the documentary will have its Cape Cod premiere at Cape Cinema in Dennis on Aug. 19. There will be an audience Q&A with Budabin after the screening.

Heather Doyle watching surfers at Newcomb Hollow Beach, where a man died in 2018 following a shark bite. (Doug Camberis credit)