By focusing its lens on coral reefs, “The Last Reef 3D: Cities
Beneath the Sea,” turns the ocean’s tiniest creatures into movie
stars. The new film explores how this habitat, which shelters
nearly a quarter of Earth’s marine life and provides food for
billions of people, is under siege from overfishing, urban and
industrial pollution and rising ocean temperatures. The movie
captures the drama of daily life from Palau, French Polynesia to
the Bahamas and Mexico. Filmmakers Luke Cresswell and Steve
McNicholas didn’t just want to make a beautiful film; they also
wanted to make a responsible one. “If you want to protect
something you have to first appreciate it,” says Cresswell.
McNicholas adds, “What we wanted to do was show the range and
breadth and diversity of life and how all these things
interconnect and how losing one element will have a domino
effect for that whole ecosystem.” We take a dip into a marine
lake with millions of jellyfish on the Island nation of Palau in
the South Pacific. Elsewhere we watch