The Coelacanth, a dive into our origins

The Coelacanth, a dive into our origins

91 mins | Documentary | Nov. 2, 2013

Gombessa Expedition 1 To dive for the Coelacanth is to go back in time. In 1938, when it was known only as a fossil, a Coelacanth was discovered in South Africa in a fisherman's net. This species bears witness to an evolutionary bifurcation 380 million years ago, and bears the marks of a great event: the day the fish left the ocean for the open air. Does it hold the secret to the transition to walking on land? In 2010, a marine biologist and outstanding diver, Laurent Ballesta, took the first photographs of the Coelacanth in its ecosystem. In April 2013, divers and researchers set down their equipment at the Sodwana base camp in South Africa, in the club founded by Peter Timm (who died in 2014). Six weeks of extreme diving at depths of over 120 meters, in an attempt to film the Coelacanth with a double-headed camera, collect its DNA and tag a subject with a satellite-linked beacon...

The Coelacanth, a dive into our origins

91 mins | Documentary | Nov. 2, 2013

The Coelacanth, a dive into our origins
Gombessa Expedition 1 To dive for the Coelacanth is to go back in time. In 1938, when it was known only as a fossil, a Coelacanth was discovered in South Africa in a fisherman's net. This species bears witness to an evolutionary bifurcation 380 million years ago, and bears the marks of a great event: the day the fish left the ocean for the open air. Does it hold the secret to the transition to walking on land? In 2010, a marine biologist and outstanding diver, Laurent Ballesta, took the first photographs of the Coelacanth in its ecosystem. In April 2013, divers and researchers set down their equipment at the Sodwana base camp in South Africa, in the club founded by Peter Timm (who died in 2014). Six weeks of extreme diving at depths of over 120 meters, in an attempt to film the Coelacanth with a double-headed camera, collect its DNA and tag a subject with a satellite-linked beacon...
Producers ARTE, CNRS Images, Les Films d'Ici, Andromède Océanologie
Original title Le Cœlacanthe, plongée vers nos origines
Directors Cédric Gentil, Gil Kébaïli
Writers Laurent Ballesta, Gil Kébaïli

Cast

Laurent Ballesta

as Plongeur, photographe, biologiste marin

Gaël Clément

as Paléontologue au Muséum d’histoire naturelle de Paris

Peter Timm

as Plongeur, fondateur du Trimix, Afrique du Sud

Emmanuel Blanche

as Médecin hyperbare de l'expédition " Gombessa 1 "

Florian Holon

as Plongeur de l'expédition " Gombessa 1 "

Thibault Rauby

as Biologiste, plongeur de l'expédition " Gombessa 1 "

Yanick Gentil

as Cameraman sous-marin, plongeur de l'expédition " Gombessa 1 "

Marc Herbin

as Spécialiste de la locomotion des vertebrés, CNRS / MNHN

Kerry Sink

as Chercheur au The South African Institute Aquatic Biodiversity

Cédric Gentil

as Logisticien de l'expédition " Gombessa 1 "

Mélanie Faye

as Narratrice (voix)