THE GREAT ADVENTURE | directed by Jean Lemire and Thierry Piantanida
» Read the interview with the directors
This
film will cover SEDNA's voyage from Montreal to Vancouver via the legendary
Northwest Passage, from the excitement of departure, to the technical difficulties,
to the rigours of climate during the expedition. But first and foremost, the
film will offer a reflection on the impact of climate change in the Arctic.
The guiding force behind the voyage will be the adventurers' passion and the
meeting of scientists with people living in the North; the film will be a
portrait of a constantly evolving situation.
Surrounded by the unmatched beauty of Northern land, sea and skyscapes, director and mission leader Jean Lemire accompanied by Thierry Piantanida will guide us through this great personal and scientific adventure. During the entire voyage, from Atlantic to Pacific, the SEDNA crew will live to the beat of a changing nature, searching for evidence and personal experiences, listening to those on the front lines of a global issue. Travelling in the wake of yesterday's great explorers, they will ask questions about the ecological and human consequences brought about by the changing face of this land of ice.
Jean
Lemire
In addition to his activities as a producer, Jean Lemire has been a director of documentaries since 1996, when he produced, wrote and co-directed Encounters with Whales of the St. Lawrence. Broadcast in more than fifty countries, the film met with great success and was awarded numerous prestigious prizes, including Gémeaux Awards for Best Cinematography and Best Sound; the Prix international de l'Institut français de la mer (Toulon, France); and the Grand Prize at the International Television Festival (New Jersey, USA), Nature/Wildlife Category.
In 1997, he wrote, directed and produced The Last Frontier, a film that skilfully blends science, art and adventure in a rarely used television style (three Gémeaux nominations, including one for Best Television Program on the Arts).
For the past three years, he has been directing and producing the feature documentary Memories of Earth, in collaboration with Frédéric Back, winner of two Academy Awards for Best Animation Film (The Man Who Planted Trees and Crac). Scheduled for release in September 2002, the film combines the magic of animation with images of the forests and wildlife of Canada's West Coast.
Thierry
Piantanida
In 1997, after seven years working alongside Commander Jacques Cousteau, French science writer and journalist Thierry Piantanida joined Gedeon Programmes, France's leading producer of science documentaries. As the writer of a series of films on the oceanography of the Mediterranean, he participated in Les Nouveaux Mondes, a weekly 90-minute adventure and science magazine on France 2.
Thierry Piantanida has written scripts for a number of films co-produced with the BBC and Discovery, three films on the polar regions, the outline for Jean-Louis Etienne's 2002 north pole expedition, and Le monde d'Etienne, a six-part series on the explorer which aired this year on France 3 and France 5.
He also contributed to the encyclopedia Le Livre de la mer (Éditions Larousse), wrote À la recherche des mondes disparus : l'aventure de l'archéologie (Éditions du Chêne, 2000) and is currently writing L'encyclopédie de la mer to be published by Fleurus in 2003.