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Winner of the GSCA Film Awards for Best Film, Best Film for Lifelong Learning and Best Cinematography

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

Release: March 13, 2020

Runtime: 40 minutes

Reviews and Honors

“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
  • Silver Award, Science & Technology– 2021 New York Festivals TV & Film Awards

Check out how the filmmakers got such amazing shots in these behind-the-scenes videos

  • “These deep underwater caves are other-worldly, like something straight out of sci-fi film, and viewers can expect to see things they’ve never seen before. The film has something for everyone, whether it's adventure, science or just pure beauty.”

    Jonathan Bird
    Jonathan BirdDirector, Ancient Caves
For Educators

Invite your students to have a learning experience they won’t forget! Book a field trip to see Ancient Caves and become immersed in the geology, environmental sciences, physics and other key school curriculum. Download the Educator Guide for hands-on activities aligned with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and Common Core ELA and Social Studies. Schedule your field trip now by contacting your local IMAX theatre for information about special group programs.

Download the Educator Guide
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.
Dr. Gina Moseley and John Ackerman searching for stalagmites that contain long climate records in Spring Valley Cavern, Minnesota.
A flowstone formation in Grotte de Gournier, 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.
Dr. Gina Moseley rappelling into Devil's Hole Cave, Nevada.
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 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).
Dr. Gina Moseley takes a water sample from the Grotte de Gournier, in Vercors, France.
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.
Traversing a forest of columns in the Crystal Cave of Abaco, Bahamas to reach The Glass Factory.
Dr. Gina Moseley crossing the small lake inside the mouth of Grotte de Gournier in Vercors, France.
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.
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.
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.
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