Following successful theatrical screenings in local communities and at the Buffalo International Film Festival, the first-of-its-kind TVO Original documentary All Too Clear: Beneath the Surface of the Great Lakes will be available to stream across Canada starting Friday, October 25, 2024 at 9:00 AM ET on TVO.org, TVO Docs YouTube channel, Smart TV apps. The three-part series will also be aired on TVO’s broadcast channel in Ontario the following evening at 7:00 p.m. ET and airing weekly on Saturday evenings through November 9, 2024.
Directed by the husband-and-wife filmmaking team, Zach Melnick and Yvonne Drebert, the immersive film uses cutting-edge underwater drones to explore how quadrillions of tiny invasive mussels, known as quaggas, are re-engineering the ecosystem of the Great Lakes at a scale not seen since the glaciers. To capture this epic change, the pair spent more than 150 days filming underwater, making it the most ambitious underwater film ever made about the Great Lakes. Part scientific exploration, part natural history adventure – the film showcases freshwater wildlife and environments like never before.
With 150 underwater filming days, the huge archive of wildlife footage captured by the filmmakers has had the added benefit of providing scientists with new insights into the spawning, feeding, and schooling behaviours of fish in the Great Lakes, including the first known recording of lake whitefish spawning in the wild.
“All Too Clear is providing an unprecedented peek into the Great Lakes and revealing important and never-before-seen information on the behaviour of fish in their highly dynamic and rapidly changing environments,” says Dr. Andrew Muir, science director at the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. “The incredible footage captured by Melnick and Drebert will help scientists communicate the issues associated with the reengineering of our aquatic ecosystems that has unfolded over the past several decades as a result of invasive mussels,” continued Muir.
But it’s not just fish on the team’s radar. In June 2023, Melnick and Drebert discovered the wreck of the steamer Africa, lost to the depths in 1895, and now encrusted in quagga mussels. The discovery received coverage from international media. “Finding the Africa really helped further our main goal as filmmakers – to bring freshwater species and ecosystems into the spotlight usually reserved for ocean environments,” says Drebert. “If we want people to care about the future of the lakes, we need to show them what’s down there. That’s why we’re so excited to share All Too Clear with audiences across Canada.”
See the TVO behind-the-scenes video of the descendants of the Captain of the “Africa” reconnecting with the 1895 tragedy
However, reaching audiences who continue to be personally impacted by the changes unfolding in the Great Lakes was a first priority for the filmmakers. That’s why they chose the Lake Huron communities of Parry Sound and Collingwood for screenings of a theatrical version of the film over the summer. The documentary will make its US premiere on October 13, 2024 at the Buffalo International Film Festival. Additionally, all visitors to Science North in Sudbury, ON are able to see a special cinematic 20-minute version of All Too Clear that is now part of their permanent exhibits.
