In June 2021, Michael Packard was scuba diving to capture lobsters off the coast of Cape Cod when he was suddenly jolted from his peaceful descent.

“It just hit me like a bus or a freight train,” Packard told Boston Public Radio on Thursday.

His first thought was that he'd been attacked by one of the great white sharks that swarm the Cape each summer. But he didn't feel any cuts or pain.

“I was just in this cavernous, dark place,” he said. “And then immediately after that, within 5 seconds, I said, ‘Yep, I'm in a whale's mouth.’”

Packard had been scooped up into the mouth of a humpback whale.

“I was 100% convinced I was going to die,” he said. Then, about 30 seconds later, although Packard said it felt more like an hour, “he threw me out of his mouth and I went flying through the air.”

Packard’s story of survival is documented in the new film “In the Whale,” which will premiere at the Provincetown Film Festival on June 16. The documentary is directed and produced by one of the journalists who dove into Packard's story, which at the time was widely reported and widely questioned.

Boston Globe environmental reporter David Abel was sent down to Provincetown “to debunk this bogus story” for the Boston Globe. He interviewed many people, including Packard and his mom, and listened to the 911 tapes.

“I had the very sorry task of having to go back to my editors to tell them that 'I'm sorry that your preconceived notion turned out not to be true,'” Abel said.

“In the Whale” came out of this reporting. But it tells more than the story of the whale encounter. It also tells Packard’s story of moving to the Cape as a 10-year-old, growing up with a single mother in Provincetown, and finding fishing and lobster diving as an outlet — and a career.

As film production went on, “it became much more personal,” Packard said. “I thought it would just be a wonderful legacy for my children and my grandchildren. … It's just a beautiful film that people can remember me by.”

For Abel, he saw Packard’s experience as more than a story of survival.

“I like to think of this film as a love story,” Abel said. “It's a story about a fisherman's love for the sea, a fisherman's love for being in and under the water, and ultimately a man's love for his family, for his kids, for his mom, for his wife.”

Since his whale encounter, Packard continues to dive for lobster rather than using traps. (He told Boston Public Radio he had just come back from the water an hour before his interview.) It’s the transformational power of going beneath the waves that keeps him coming back.

“It gets me out of this world and into a whole nother place,” Packard said. “When I go to work, I don't get in a car on a freeway, I go underwater. I mean, what's better than that? Every day I look forward to going under.”

The danger of diving doesn't deter Packard. He takes pride in being one of the last lobster divers on the Cape, maybe even the country, who makes a living this way. He hopes this film lets people know they can pursue their passions.

“Don't be afraid to do something that you really, really, really want to do,” he said. Even jobs that may be dangerous. “Do what you love and don't worry about the rest.”