The All Too Clear documentary uses underwater robots to explore life beneath the surface of the Great Lakes.
Following screenings in Ontario and at the Buffalo International Film Festival, the TVO Original documentary All Too Clear: Beneath the Surface of the Great Lakes will be available to stream across Canada starting Friday, October 25 at 9:00 a.m. (ET) on TVO.org, TVO Docs YouTube channel and Smart TV apps.
Directed by the husband-and-wife filmmaking team of Zach Melnick and Yvonne Drebert, the immersive film uses 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 last Ice Age. To capture this epoch-transforming change, the pair spent more than 150 days filming underwater, making All Too Clear the most ambitious underwater film ever made about the Great Lakes. Part scientific exploration and part natural history adventure, the film highlights freshwater wildlife and environments in a totally new way.
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The rare footage captured by the filmmakers has had the added benefit of providing scientists with new insights into the previously unseen 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,” he added.
During filming, in June 2023, Melnick and Drebert discovered the wreck of the steamer Africa, lost to the depths in 1895, and now totally encrusted in quagga mussels. “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.”
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. 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.
The three-part series will be aired on TVO’s broadcast channel in Ontario on October 26 at 7:00 p.m. ET and airing weekly on Saturday evenings through November 9.
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