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Los
Angeles - Take a cinematic voyage and
discover a world unlike any other, a world that
has been called the “soul of the sea”.
Coral Reef Adventure opens at the California
Science Center IMAX® Theater in Exposition
Park on January 30, 2004. Experience breathtaking
photography shown on the enormous 7-story IMAX®
screen with the latest technology and a 12,000-watt
digital surround sound system. This 46-minute
film reveals the ocean’s powerful yet fragile
beauty, while documenting the efforts of scientists
who work to understand and protect the Earth’s
last pristine wilderness – the sea. This
is life on a coral reef – where some of
the planet’s most diverse, fascinating and
mysterious landscapes and creatures exist hidden
from our sight. It is a world few human beings
will ever experience up close, yet one that helps
sustain the very balance of life on earth, and
one that might contain unforeseen solutions to
human medical problems. Only now it is under siege.
The
story of the reefs and how they’ve come
to face worldwide decline is brought to life on
a screen seven stories tall in Coral Reef
Adventure, an all-new IMAX theatre experience
from MacGillivray Freeman Films, Academy Award®-nominated
producers of Dolphins, The Living
Sea and the highest grossing documentary
film in history, Everest.
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Voted
“Best IMAX Theatre Film of 2003” by
the Giant Screen Theater Association, Coral
Reef Adventure takes audiences on an epic
voyage of discovery to the South Pacific’s
reefs, revealing both their remarkable contribution
to life on earth and the imminent dangers they
now face. Following husband and wife underwater
cinematography team Howard and Michele Hall on
a 10-month quest across the Pacific Ocean –
during which they attempt to create a lasting
cinematic record of the reefs as they exist today
– the film captures mesmerizing images of
beauty as well as sobering images of reefs in
decline. In vivid detail, the giant screen adventure
reveals the vast array of unusual creatures that
inhabit the reefs; introduces everyday heroes
hoping to help save the reefs; and teams up with
scientists exploring the reefs for clues to their
health and for new species that are adding to
what we know about life on earth.
To
bring these dramatic stories of the reef up to
the surface, the filmmakers of Coral Reef
Adventure faced many extreme challenges and
underwater dangers. “This film is one of
the most technically complex underwater films
ever made,” says Howard Hall, who also served
as the film’s Underwater Director of Photography.
Using innovative techniques, the filmmakers plunge
to record-breaking depths, taking the notoriously
cumbersome IMAX camera deeper in the open ocean
than any diver has ever taken it before—to
370 feet below the surface.
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Found
in more than 100 countries around the world in
sun-drenched waters in the tropics, coral reefs
comprise just 1% of the ocean yet nurture 25%
of all marine life. Coral reefs are the underwater
equivalent of tropical rainforests, rivaling and
at times exceeding the diversity of broad kinds
of organisms in their terrestrial counterparts.
Over 350 million people depend on reefs for food
and survival while medicines derived from reef
species treat heart disease and cancers, among
other illnesses. Coral buffers entire nations
and anchors a multi-billion dollar tourist economy.
In fact, the reefs are part of an ocean system
that helps stabilize our climate, making the rain
that feeds our crops and oxygenating the very
air we breathe.
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But
more than a science lesson in reef biology, Coral
Reef Adventure is an inspiring personal tale
of courage and hope, the story of ordinary men
and women seeking to make a difference to the
planet’s most vulnerable environments. Coral
reefs thrive on symbiosis – a word that
literally means “living together”
– and a similar spirit of partnership drives
the Halls on their Coral Reef Adventure.
Melding the story of the reefs with that of the
Halls’ impassioned quest to bring worldwide
attention to the plight of the reefs, the film
mixes art and real life, science and entertainment.
As a result, it is not only one of the most technically
advanced underwater films ever made, it is also
a rare portrait of the demanding and daring creative
process by which underwater movies are made at
all.
A
labor of love for long-time ocean enthusiast Greg
MacGillivray, the film’s director and producer,
Coral Reef Adventure is the third in
his series of ocean-themed films. “While
few people on earth will ever experience the intense
challenges and rewards of ocean exploration, Coral
Reef Adventure opens up this world of unprecedented
beauty and vital importance to our survival as
a species,” says Greg MacGillivray. “Howard
and Michele have taken the IMAX camera into these
underwater worlds so audiences will experience
these far-off, magical places. Their story is
one not only of great human adventure, but of
real hope for the future of coral reefs.”
Coral
Reef Adventure was produced in association
with the Museum of Science in Boston,
the National Wildlife Federation,
Lowell, Blake and Associates,
and the Museum Film Network,
and with major funding from the National
Science Foundation.
For
more information, visit the Coral
Reef Adventure website.
Tickets:
Ticket prices for IMAX films range from $4.50
to $7.50. Call (213) 744-7400 for information.
For advance ticket purchase and group rates, phone
213.744-2019.
Proceeds
from the IMAX Theater support Science Center exhibits
and programming. Guests should call (213) 744-7400
to confirm film schedule prior to their visit.
For general information, visit our website at
www.californiasciencecenter.org.
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