The Last Reef

Synopsis

Fly across iridescent tropical reefs, brush through a cloud of a million jellyfish, visit an alien world where the closer you look, the more you see.

We think of reefs as exotic, distant places with little connection to our everyday world.  Yet there are many kinds of reef, each of them a living city beneath the sea, where plants and animals congregate in mutual benefit.  They have a parallel existence to ours, distant yet undoubtedly connected.

Each of them is a hotspot of biodiversity as vital to life on earth as the rainforests.  Just as the Amazon has its secrets, so too do the reefs.  Reefs have been molding and shaping our shorelines, literally forming islands and mountains, for millions of years.  Yet in our lifetime, they have come under threat: human activity is altering the chemistry of the oceans.  As the sea becomes more acidic, coral, shell and bone begin to crumble.

Shot on location in Palau, Vancouver Island, French Polynesia, Mexico, and The Bahamas, The Last Reef takes us on a global journey to explore our connection with the ocean’s complex, parallel worlds.  New underwater 3D technology takes us into the heart of the reef, revealing a habitat more diverse and more colorful than you ever imagined …

What would it mean to us if one of these vibrant wonderlands were to become the last reef?

Film Information

Director(s): Luke Cresswell, Steve McNicholas

Producer(s): David Marks, D.J. Roller, Don Kempf, Luke Cresswell, Steve McNicholas

Narrator(s): Jamie Lee

Release: 2012

Runtime(s): 42, 24, 12

Awards & Accolades

• $25 million global box office
• Still in active theatrical distribution
• Music by the Oscar-nominated, global recording artists and off-Broadway performing creators of STOMP
• Finalist: Best Immersive 3D/Large Format Program, Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival 2013
• Finalist: Best Original Musical Score, Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival 2013
• Winner: Best Marine Conservation Message (Save our Seas Foundation), International Wildlife Film Festival
• Winner: Best of Category – Environmental, International Wildlife Film Festival 2012
• Winner: Best Music, International Wildlife Film Festival 2012
• Winner: Best Underwater Cinematography, International Wildlife Film Festival 2012
• Winner: Best International Short Documentary, Garden State Film Festival 2012
• Winner: Best Original Score, Giant Screen Cinema Association 2012
• Winner: Best Sound Design, Giant Screen Cinema Association 2012