Explore the World Under the Ocean

The ocean is perhaps the most mysterious and spectacular part of our planet. Like a many-headed hydra, it can be serene and pristine one minute, only for that calmness to quickly give way to turbulent waves and chaotic storms.

The primordial origin of all life on Earth, our oceans continue to brim with excitement, featuring vicious sharks, majestic whales, playful dolphins, and, of course, Dory.

And, not unlike a Jules Verne novel, we’re diving twenty thousand leagues under the sea to find a real leviathan in the form of five aquatic films about the amazing blue world that exists underneath us.

A Sea Turtle Story

Baby Sea Turtles are absolutely adorable. And, in this short documentary for kids(and adults!) we get a sneak peak into the lives of these tiny shelled wonders. So watch them paddle their way through life in this fun film.

A Sea Turtle Story, Kathy Shultz, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

Where the Bay Becomes the Sea

The Bay of Fundy is an area of water that lies between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. It’s a wondrous little ecosystem filled with schools of fish, waddling puffins, barking seals and, of course, human beings. A documentary about the importance of protecting our natural habitat, this film is a passioned plea for careful management of our oceanic eco-systems.

Where the Bay Becomes the Sea, John Brett, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

Life on Ice

The barren cold of the Arctic region is home to a plethora of plants and animals who call the frigid northern seas home. So get ready to experience a beautiful, snow covered world filled with families of narwals, fun-loving seals, ferocious walruses and much much more. With great underwater footage, this is a frozen wonderland you’ll want to visit.

Life on Ice, William Hansen, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

Octopus Hunt

An exciting adventure deep in the ocean blue, follow a group of marine zoologists in their attempts to locate and study both an octopus and a wolf eel.  So grab your scuba gear and take a nautical plunge into the depths of the Pacific Ocean with this sea worthy documentary, as narrated by the deep-sea divers themselves.

Octopus Hunt, Bernard Devlin, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

More about our waters and environment…

Fresh releases:

Dazzled by the colours of our precious waters? What would it mean to have those ethereal hues disappear forever?
These are precisely the questions Leanne Allison ponders in her poetic and cinematic short Losing Blue.

Losing Blue, Leanne Allison, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

On a grander scale, consider our emotional links to our communities and environments—including our waters—with Jennifer Abbott’s The Magnitude of All Things. This feature documentary reveals the universality of grief, from the loss of loved ones to ecosystems, and how this powerful emotion can be harnessed as a catalyst for change. 

The Magnitude of All Things, Jennifer Abbott, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

Cool classics:

What lives in the space between? Specifically those areas that get covered by the highest tides but are exposed during the lowest.
Director David Denning brings you to British Columbia to explore this fascinating type of place and the creatures that thrive there in The Intertidal Zone. 

The Intertidal Zone, David Denning, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

Ever wonder what lives under the arctic waters? Take the plunge and find out with Joan Henson’s 1-minute Canada Vignette, Arctic Seascape.

Arctic Seascape, Joan Henson, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

… or dive deeper into frigid waters—specifically those found under two or more metres of ice in Resolute Bay—with Dr. Joseph MacInnis in James de B. Domville‘s Arctic IV. This feature documentary follows the specialist in underwater medicine and his team as they explore this little-known world under the polar ice.

Arctic IV, James de B. Domville, provided by the National Film Board of Canada