Thursday May 8th the Liquid crew were in attendance at the premiere of the new IMAX film Mysteries of the Great Lakes at the Ontario Science Center along with many members of the Ontario dive community. Our own John Millar worked on this film as a member of the underwater unit. It was his chance and ours to see how the shots would be featured.

 The opening sequence of the film features a flight along some of the Great Lakes most spectacular shorelines and the music of Canadian singer / songwriter Gordon Lightfoot. The filmmakers really take advantage of the IMAX technology to immerse you in awe inspiring flight footage. Throughout the film you find yourself looking all around you to take in the detailed scenes as they are projected 180 degrees horizontally and over 122 degrees vertically. The Great Lakes are truly great and the IMAX technology is the perfect format to exhibit this natural wonder.

 Producer David Lickley uses his latest documentary to explore Great Lakes subjects such as fresh water supply, environmental pollution, isolated island caribou populations, lake sturgeon, eagles and shipping. The focus of the production is the decimated lake sturgeon population and efforts by biologists to restore the species to pre-colonial numbers. Lickley  nicely balances each of the subjects and admits that it was difficult to choose which issues to include in the film as there are many more stories waiting to be told.

 Lickley is truly passionate about the subject as evident by his Q & A period after the film. Like the audience, he was absolutely astonished at how complex, beautiful yet fragile the lakes can be. While many may believe that the lakes simply pour into the ocean through the St. Lawrence seaway we were told by the producer that it takes 400 years for a drop of water added to the head of Lake Superior to reach the Atlantic ocean.

 I highly recommend the film to anyone that lives, or plays on the Great Lakes. The use of stunning cinematography and meaningful story telling both entertains and informs. Visit the Mysteries of the Great Lakes website for a film trailer and other facinating facts about the lakes that hold 1/5 of the worlds fresh water.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 9th, 2008 at 10:02 am and is filed under Event Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.