Details

Ancient Caves brings science and adventure together as it follows paleoclimatologist Dr. Gina Moseley on a mission to unlock the secrets of the Earth’s climate in the most unlikely of places: caves. Moseley and her team of cave explorers travel the world exploring vast underground worlds in search of stalagmite samples – geologic “fingerprints” – that reveal clues about the planet’s climate history. Their quest leads them to some of the world’s most remote caves, both above and below the water, in France, Iceland, the Bahamas, the U.S. and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Together, they go where very few humans will ever go, revealing the incredible lengths scientists will go to study the unknown.

Produced by Oceanic Research Group Films with support from the Giant Dome Theater Consortium. Presented by MacGillivray Freeman Films.

Narrated by Bryan Cranston

Runtime: 40 minutes

Honors and Reviews

“Ancient Caves is a triumph for the format, delivering both truly rare visual wonders and the kind of deliberate, substantive scientific education that hasn’t always made it through the cute-penguin montages…of past
dome films.”

–The Tangential

  • Best Film, Short Subject – 2020 GSCA Achievement Awards
  • Best Film for Lifelong Learning – 2020 GSCA Achievement Awards
  • Best Cinematography – 2020 GSCA Achievement Awards
  • Official Selection – 2020 Academia Film Olomouc
  • Official Selection – 2020 National Museum of Natural Science Film Expo, Taiwan
  • Intrepid Award – 2020 Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival

Check out how they got the shots in these behind-the-scenes videos

Brian Kakuk and Todd Kelly observe extremely rare and fragile “rose formations” in a section of Crystal Cave known as The Glass Factory, Abaco, Bahamas.
A flowstone formation in Grotte de Gournier, Vercors, France.
Director/DP Jonathan Bird (L) and support diver Todd Kelly complete decompression on oxygen after a 3-hour dive to the section called Fangorn Forest in Crystal Cave, Abaco, Bahamas. All of the scuba tanks in this picture were required by these two divers to reach Fangorn, which requires more than a mile of swimming to reach, making it one of the most remote places on planet Earth.
Dr. Gina Moseley brings gear down to support diver Todd Kelly who is assisting in research diver Brian Kakuk’s dive to 300 feet for water samples in Devil’s Hole Cave, Nevada.
Dr. Gina Moseley crosses the small lake inside the mouth of Grotte de Gournier in Vercors, France. Entry to this cave can only be made by small boat (or swimming, but the water is quite cold).
Research diver Brian Kakuk and Todd Kelly examine a “Christmas Tree” stalagmite in the crystal section of the Crystal Cave of Abaco, Bahamas.
Research diver Brian Kakuk entering The Glass Factory in the Crystal Cave of Abaco, Bahamas.
Director/DP Jonathan Bird in the Crystal Cave of Abaco, Bahamas on his way to one of the cave sections for filming with a Red 8K camera in an underwater housing. Note that the lens cap is on. The camera lens is extremely vulnerable to being scratched in these tight quarters, so the lens cap was left on until the last minute when filming would begin.
Brian Kakuk and Todd Kelly, partially obscured within the briny mixing of the fresh and salt water layers (called a halocline), enter the crystal section of the famous Crystal Cave in Abaco, Bahamas.
Dr. Gina Moseley takes a water sample from the Grotte de Gournier, in Vercors, France.
Dr. Gina Moseley crossing the small lake inside the mouth of Grotte de Gournier in Vercors, France.
Dr. Gina Moseley taking a core sample in Devil’s Hole Cave, Nevada along with co-researchers Dr. Yuri Dublyansky and Dr. Katie Wendt.
Traversing a forest of columns in the Crystal Cave of Abaco, Bahamas to reach The Glass Factory.
Dr. Gina Moseley rappelling into Devil's Hole Cave, Nevada.
Dr. Gina Moseley and John Ackerman searching for stalagmites that contain long climate records in Spring Valley Cavern, Minnesota.

Seeing is believing.

Would you like to schedule a viewing of one of our films?
We can help with that.

CONTACT US