If you go
* What: Jean-Michel Cousteau’s “Secret Ocean 3D.”* When: Opens Friday, Sept. 30.* Where: Tennessee Aquarium’s Imax Theater, 201 Chestnut St.* Admission: $11.95 adults, $9.95 children 3-12 nonmembers; $8 members (all ages); free for Imax Club passholders.* Phone: 1-800-262-0695.* Website: www.tnaqua.org/plan-your-visit/ticket-information.
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Jean-Michel Cousteau's "Secret Ocean 3D," a new giant-screen film premiering Friday, Sept. 30, at the Tennessee Aquarium's Imax Theater, is a chance to view some of the world's most amazing marine communities with a scuba-diving legend. The film is narrated by oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle.
Filmed over three years in vibrant marine communities from the Bahamas to Fiji, this is the first Imax 3-D film directed by Cousteau. The conservationist chose to focus on the secret world within the ocean that is perhaps the biggest story of all - that the smallest life in the sea is the mightiest force on which we all depend.
More than 30 species of fascinating sea creatures, some no bigger than 1 inch, were filmed for the first time using new technologies. The crews captured animal behaviors in 3-D that have never been seen in theaters thanks to ultra-HD 5K cameras, slow motion, macro and motion-control techniques.
"Since the 1940s, the Cousteau family has been deeply connected to the water. Several generations have grown up with our Calypso adventures, which revealed to the public what was a totally unknown world at that time," says Cousteau. "Thanks to the new technology developed specifically for us, I immediately understood that this was a revolution in underwater filming that would allow us to capture a whole new range of behaviors I had never before witnessed in my 69 years of diving. 'Secret Ocean 3D' takes us one step further in the discovery of the ocean in a way my father, Jacques Cousteau, could have only imagined."
Earle says she's had the "frustration of knowing that there was always more beyond what I could see" since her first dive.
"Secret Ocean 3D," she says, "allows us a deeper understanding of all life in the sea, the heart of our planet, and encourages us to take care of not only the large creatures, such as whales and dolphins, but also the tiny creatures that make the rest of life possible."
Some of the world's most vibrant living communities are hidden from public view in the ocean depths. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) coral reefs support more than 4,000 species of fish and 800 known coral species.
Recently, vast areas of these underwater treasures were protected with the creation of the new Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument surrounding the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean and the designation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, the first in the Atlantic Ocean.
Much of the credit for protection of these unique marine ecosystems can be traced to the efforts of ocean advocates Cousteau and Earle. The diving legends have used their expertise to reveal the colorful sea creatures thriving in coral reef communities and have worked tirelessly to inspire world leaders to consider increasing protections for the ocean.
President George W. Bush established the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Monument a decade ago after meeting with Cousteau and Earle. And they helped persuade President Obama to expand protections in Hawaii and create the new monument in the Atlantic.