Special Report: Occupational Hazard - The First Coral Reefers (2026)

John H. Cunningham and Ted E. Haynes talk with Mike about Occupational Hazard: The First Coral Reefers, their documentary on the founding members of Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band. The pair met at the Key West Film Festival and set out to make a short about steel guitarist Roger Bartlett; six interviews in, they knew they had a feature, and by the time they wrapped in April 2025 they'd shot eighteen more and amassed six hundred pieces of archival material.

They talk about the trust the surviving Reefers placed in them, editor Richard Lowe (Muscle Shoals) and archival producer Adam Lawrence sorting through decades of footage, the Key West and Santa Barbara premieres — the latter a nearly two-hundred-seat sellout — and what it was like watching Jimmy Buffett's own sisters sit in the audience for an early screening. They also get into Key West itself as a magnet for outsized characters, name-checking longtime local artist David Wegman along the way.

Narrated by Jeff Bridges, Occupational Hazard: The First Coral Reefers opens in theaters nationwide September 5th — Jimmy Buffett Day — through the end of October, before heading to digital. Showtimes and city listings are at occupationalhazardfilm.com.


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