
Who owns the depths of the ocean? Can we power our green future efficiently and responsibly? Exploring the luminous ecosystems deep in the Pacific Ocean alongside the countries and companies that hope to gain access to the lucrative deposits of precious metals lining the ocean floor kilometers beneath the surface, Deep Rising intertwines these questions, wondering if we’re simply going to repeat history, or find a new future without exploitation. As scientists learn more about deep sea nodules– ore deposits resting on the ocean bed which contain enough rare metals such as manganese, cobalt, and nickel to potentially power the next wave of the “green revolution” and electric vehicles –industrialized nations and corporations are scrambling for to harvest them. Alongside beautiful footage of translucent jellyfish and denizens of the deep ocean, far more strange and wondrous than anything from the latest Avatar film, Director Mathieu Rytz asks if we are capable of gathering these deep sea nodules without disturbing the ecosystems that make up more than 95% of earth’s biosphere.
Visually this is a winner.
Screen International
Series Media Partner
Jason Momoa
USA
2023
Insights
In English and Spanish with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Credits
Executive Producer
Jason Momoa, Addison Fischer, Olivia Fischer, Sébastien Lépinard, Julie Lépinard
Producer
Matthieu Rytz, Jason Momoa
Screenwriter
Matthieu Rytz, Helen Scales
Cinematography
Matthieu Rytz William Mackenzie Diego Pequeño Spencer Peter Wangare
ANIM
Félix Pharand-Deschênes
Editor
Elisa Borora, Ace
Original Music
Ólafur Arnalds
Director

Matthieu Rytz
Matthieu Rytz is a producer, curator, photographer and award-winning film director. A visual anthropologist by training, his passion for storytelling has led him across the globe to witness and document complex human and environmental stories. Matthieu specializes in creating multidisciplinary, multichannel projects using film, still images and virtual reality; using whatever medium best serves the story.
Filmography: Anote’s Ark (2018)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Our Lady of the Nile
Veronica and Virginia are inseparable friends at an elite Catholic boarding school, Our Lady of the Nile, but what binds them together is the very thing that separates them forever. We are in Rwanda, 1973, and tribal tensions are simmering ominously.
Night Moves: Street Photography, Poetry and Music with Rodney DeCroo
To mark the publication of Night Moves, his first book of street photography (shot in and around Commercial Drive), singer-songwriter, poet and playwright Rodney DeCroo shares his images, stories and music, along with his band The Wise Blood.
Secret Mall Apartment
The stranger-than-fiction true story of a group of artists who built and furnished a hidden apartment inside a mall, remaining undetected for years. This is an absurdly fun and surprisingly profound film about gentrification and art.
The Teacher
In this potent thriller, English teacher Basem witnesses the murder of a teenager by a Israeli settler. While the subsequent investigation rolls slowly towards a foregone conclusion, the teacher is caught up in a parallel kidnapping case...
Bob Trevino Likes It
When her toxic, narcissistic dad cuts her out of his life, Lily Trevino looks him up on Facebook and happens across his namesake, Bob (John Leguizamo), a gentle, genial contractor who lives nearby, and who proves an altogether better dad...
The Encampments
When pro-Palestine protests took hold of Columbia last year, the filmmakers were there from the beginning. This documentary charts the mounting tensions between students and the administration, as the protests were picked up across North America.