Press Release
Journey into Amazing Caves Descends Into Fernbank’s IMAX® Theatre
Film Highlights one of the Environments Explored in the Related Exhibition, “In the Dark”
ATLANTA—Infinitely mysterious and radical by definition, caves are some of Earth’s last unexplored frontiers. For those compelled to push their limits in the world’s most hostile environments, the risk of fatal danger and the thrill of new discovery are the everyday factors that make cave exploration such an awe-inspiring experience.
Audiences are invited to experience the mysterious world of the underground: the amazing world of caves in the large-format film Journey into Amazing Caves, showing at Fernbank Museum of Natural History from February 16 through May 4, 2008. A visceral, suspenseful expedition with scientists who boldly explore places once thought off-limits to human presence, let alone IMAX cameras, this film pairs scientists with intrepid filmmakers to garner unprecedented footage from unique and forbidding ice caves, underwater caves and terrestrial caves. Audiences can squeeze into Earth’s alien, hidden realms guided by two women cavers on the quest of a lifetime: daring to enter caves so remote and so threatening, exploring them is like exploring a new planet.
Along the way, audiences will wriggle through tiny, twisting passages, drop into gleaming blue labyrinths of ice, swim through flooded underground vaults, and enter a world so extreme the microscopic creatures that live there are called extremophiles. They will circle the globe, stopping in the hot, lush Yucatán; dropping into barren, frozen Greenland; and flying above the primitive red rock Arizona desert. And they will hold their breath as their expedition leaders, Dr. Hazel Barton and Nancy Aulenbach, rappel down steep cliffs into unmapped chambers, hoping to bring back startling new discoveries that may unlock new cures for human disease.
“With Journey into Amazing Caves, we have a chance to transport audiences into a place they’ve never had a chance to see up-close before and give them a sense of the heart-pounding adventure of exploring an utterly unknown world,” says producer Greg MacGillivray. “The experiential feeling of IMAX® photography is perfect for capturing the excitement of caving, which is filled with unexpected discoveries that will thrill audiences of all ages.”
At the heart of Journey into Amazing Caves is the moving triumph of two tenacious young women who are part of the new movement of extreme athletes and “extreme scientists” – scientists who gather their knowledge and data in treacherous, unforgiving zones of the environment.
Dr. Hazel Barton is a microbiologist who is literally caving to save lives. Like an ancient explorer looking for new worlds, Barton travels the planet’s caves seeking undiscovered organisms that might hold new medical applications, including next-generation medicines to treat drug-resistant tuberculosis. There’s great promise in her research – some cave “bugs” being studied by other scientists already appear to attack cancer cells. Dr. Barton’s caving partner, Nancy Aulenbach, is a passionate adventure-seeker, an expert in cave rescue and a bold pioneer who is looking to expand the limits of what we know about caves – and how to save them from the imminent dangers of pollution and human encroachment.
Together Hazel and Nancy journey to worlds of unparalleled beauty and danger: the deep, perilous underwater caves of the Yucatán peninsula; the frozen ice-caves of Greenland; and the rugged limestone caverns of the Grand Canyon ecosystem. They find in these otherworldly zones an alternate reality where the regular rules of biology and geology do not necessarily apply. But no matter how strange or surprising the environments become, Nancy and Hazel remain undeterred in their mission to bring back to the surface a new understanding of the richness and precariousness of life on–and within–Earth.
“We think audiences will walk out of the theater feeling they were part of an incredible caving expedition,” says Director Steve Judson. “Audiences will learn about the sport and science of caving, they’ll visit fascinating places and meet colorful characters, and, most of all, they’ll get a first-hand look at some of the world’s most extreme and exciting environments.”
From the producers of smash hits Everest and The Living Sea, Journey into Amazing Caves is narrated by actor Liam Neeson and features songs and performances by The Moody Blues.
The film pairs well with the Museum experience, as Journey into Amazing Caves further explores one of the habitats of In the Dark, a special exhibition that investigate some of the Earth’s darkest environments and the animals that have adapted to live in them. Within the exhibition, cave habitats are explored through dioramas and interactives, revealing open and “closed” cave systems.
Journey into Amazing Caves shows daily at Fernbank Museum of Natural History from February 16 through May 4, 2008. The related exhibition, In the Dark, is on view from February 9 through May 4, 2008. IMAX® tickets are $13 for adults, $12 for students and seniors, and $11 for children ages 12 and under. Value Pass tickets, which combine Journey into Amazing Caves and In the Dark with full museum access, are $23 for adults, $21 for students and seniors, and $19 for children.
Fernbank Museum of Natural History is located at 767 Clifton Road in Atlanta. More information is available to visitors at fernbankmuseum.org. Tickets can be purchased in advance at 404.929.6400.
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