Documentary / Matthieu Rytz / USA / 2022 / 93 min / OmdU
DEEP RISING is a tale of geopolitical, scientific and corporate intrigue: investigating the future of the
world's energy crisis and how it is currently tied to the fate of the deep ocean floor, which is
intricately tied to our survival.
5 years after Anote’s Ark, Matthieu Rytz returns with this up-to-the-minute tale of geopolitical,
scientific, and corporate intrigue that exposes the machinations of a secretive organization
empowered to greenlight massive extraction of metals from the deep seafloor that are deemed
essential to the electric battery revolution. Narrated by Jason Momoa, Deep Rising illuminates the
vital relationship between the deep ocean and sustaining life on Earth. The documentary also follows
mining startup The Metals Company, as it pursues funding, public favor, and permission from the
International Seabed Authority to mine wide swaths of the Pacific Ocean floor. Rytz’s fly-on-the-wall
access observes extraction companies as they co-opt scientific studies and deliver pitches to
investors, proposing how the costs of industrializing our Earth’s last pristine environment can be
justified to access metals they claim will benefit all of mankind. As oil conglomerates pivot
investments to deep-ocean mining, Deep Rising examines humanity’s destructive pattern of
extracting materials for profit and asks why we don’t choose, instead, to develop abundant resources
to solve our energy problems.
Film talk
The ocean on the agenda. A discussion on international law of the sea and the threat to the oceans and their ecosystems from deep-sea mining.
Prof. Dr. Surabhi Ranganathan, International Law, University of Cambridge / Prof. Dr. Antje Boetius, Marine Biologist, Director, AWI / Moderation: Kerstin Hoppenhaus, Science Journalist.
The film talk will be held in English.
