Fernbank Museum of Natural History

Press Release

ATLANTA—Welcome to life on a coral reef—where some of the planet’s most diverse, fascinating landscapes and creatures exist hidden from our sight. It is a world few humans will ever experience up close, yet one that helps sustain the balance of life on earth.  Dive into these mysterious depths in the giant-screen film Coral Reef Adventure, showing in Fernbank Museum’s IMAX® Theatre June 30–October 5, 2007. The return of this popular film gives even more people the chance to experience a fantastic voyage of discovery to the South Pacific’s reefs.

Following husband and wife cinematography team Howard and Michele Hall on a quest across the Pacific Ocean, the film captures unprecedented, mesmerizing underwater images of the reefs’ beauty and sobering images of their deterioration. In vivid detail, the film reveals the vast array of unusual reef creatures, the everyday heroes hoping to help save the reefs, and the scientists exploring for clues about their health and never-before-seen species that call reefs home. Using innovative techniques, the filmmakers plunge to record-breaking depths, taking the IMAX® camera deeper into the open ocean than ever before.

Found in more than 100 countries worldwide, 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 the diversity of organisms in their terrestrial counterparts. Built over hundreds of thousands of years by tiny coral animals, a reef is a miniature metropolis, providing services to countless species, including humans. Over 350 million people depend on reefs for food, survival and medicines to treat heart disease, cancers and other illnesses. 

More than a science lesson in reef biology, Coral Reef Adventure is also an inspiring tale of ordinary people seeking to protect the planet’s most vulnerable environments. As the Halls journey across the Pacific, they discover a growing global effort—one that crosses borders and cultures—to protect and sustain reefs. 

During their 10-month “detective” trip, the Halls make thrilling and unexpected discoveries and endure daunting personal risk, all while seeking out local perspectives on the reefs as they journey from island to island. While most land surfaces on earth have been extensively mapped and explored, only 10% of the known reefs in the Pacific Ocean have been visited by scientists. 

Along the Coral Reef Adventure journey, they visit the nationally-protected Great Barrier Reef of Australia, the largest natural architectural structure on earth. Later, they set sail for the less-protected reefs of Fiji, 2,000 miles away and meet up with renowned conservationist Jean-Michael Cousteau, who, in continuing the Cousteau legacy, is a passionate advocate for stewarding healthy coral environments.  In Fiji, the Halls endure their greatest physical test—a series of dangerous dives to depths over 350 feet where standard SCUBA equipment is inadequate. For this leg of the journey, the Halls are joined by deep reef scientist and deep diving pioneer Richard Pyle, who studies fish and other species found on reefs located at depths greater than 200 feet—a seldom-visited realm he has dubbed The Twilight Zone.  “We can’t know if something is extinct if we never knew it existed,” said Pyle. 

The Halls reach their final destination in the volcanic paradise of Tahiti and the deep underwater canyons off the Rangiroa atoll. The crew’s main mission is to search for the huge schools of sharks said to roam the reefs. An impressive 90% of Rangiroa’s reefs are flourishing, except for those close to human populations. After weeks of searching, the crew locates the sharks—a school of more than 300 that appear to be mating. They take it as a sign of hope that the reefs continue to sustain such an abundance of marine life.  

Coral Reef Adventure shows daily at Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s IMAX® Theatre from June 30—October 5, 2007. Tickets are available by phone at 404.929.6400.  IMAX® tickets are $11 for adults, $10 for students/seniors, $9 for children, and $6 for members.  Fernbank is located at 767 Clifton Road in Atlanta. For more information, visit www.fernbankmuseum.org.

More Films in the IMAX® Theatre:
Wired to Win: Surviving the Tour de France, showing through August 3, 2007, bikes through the French countryside, across grueling mountain tops and around the bustling cities of France with the world’s most elite cyclists as the film explores the fascinating role of an athlete’s brain in processing information, pain, focus, attention and determination.

The Alps: Giants of Nature, showing August 4, 2007 through January 4, 2008, leads a breathtaking journey into the thin air above Switzerland with John Harlin III as he embarks on his life’s most meaningful climb: an attempt to scale the mountain that took his father's life. Along the way, this film explores the unsurpassed beauty of the Alps with a ride on the high-altitude Glacier Express train, stops in enchanting mountain villages, a bungee jump off Verzasca Dam and a triumphant ascent of the sheer rock-and-ice wall known as the Eiger North Face.

Sea Monsters, showing October 6, 2007 through February 29, 2008, voyages deep into the prehistoric ocean to follow “Dolly,” an adventurous dolichorhynchops, as she comes face to face with long-necked plesiosaurs, giant turtles, enormous fish, fierce sharks, and the ancient sea’s top predators—mosasaurs. Modern-day paleontological digs then reveal clues to what likely happened to the film’s cast of characters.

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