Taucher mit Kamera unter Wasser

© Cinematek 

La Grande Barrière de corail

Film Restored
Film
Fri 23.10.26, 16:00

Kinemathek – Studiokino

In 1967, a Belgian team aboard the navy ship De Moor embarked on a groundbreaking five-month expedition to the Great Barrier Reef, then a largely unexplored natural wonder. The crew included scientists, sailors and the filmmaker Pierre Levie. Led by Captain Arsène Robyns, they navigated treacherous, unmapped waters. The expedition’s footage, captured by filmmaker Pierre Dubuisson and diver Ron Taylor (later renowned for ‘Jaws’ from 1975), revealed the reef’s vibrant, otherworldly marine life. The resulting documentary has a near-meditative quality and serves scientific as well as cinematic and aesthetic purposes, akin to Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s ‘Le Monde du Silence’ (1956). Premiered at the Venice Film Festival, critics praised the film as “a unique spectacle and unparalleled scientific document” of a world of its own – a world that has since been heavily affected by pollution and climate change and is at risk of being lost forever.

BE 1969, directors: Pierre Dubuisson, Pierre Levie, Michel de Mévius, 92 min, English version
Introduction: Bruno Mestdagh (Cinematek)
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Tickets € 7 / concessions € 5
When Fri 23.10.26, 16:00
Where

Kinemathek – Studiokino
Available online from October
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Event details and guests

Film Info

D: Pierre Dubuisson, Pierre Levie, Michel de Mévius
C: Marcel Thonnon, Michel de Mévius
E: Gérard Corbiau
M: Patrick Ledoux
As herself: Valerie Tayler
V/O: Lorette Charlier, Marcel Berteau 
P: Université de Liège | Ministère de l’Éducation nationale
Prod: Pierre Levie
WP: 1969

Original format: 35mm, color
Screening print: 2K DCP, 92 min, Cinematek – Royal Belgian Film Archive

Restoration Information

The 35mm CRI internegative was scanned in 2K and digitally restored by Cinematek, the Royal Film Archive of Belgium, with support from the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles. The restoration was carried out in collaboration with producer Françoise Levie from Memento Production along with the University of Liège and underscores the film’s dual role as a scientific milestone and a call to protect our planet’s fragile ecosystems.

Bruno Mestdagh

has worked at Cinematek, the Royal Film Archive of Belgium, since 1987. Currently head of the archive’s digital film collection, he oversees the coordination and selection of film elements for restoration and digitization. He has actively participated in various European projects aimed at facilitating access to digitized historical films from archives across the continent. In addition, Mestdagh curates programs of classic and silent films in his hometown of Bruges.

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About Film Restored

In 2026, the Deutsche Kinemathek’s film heritage festival explores risk in cinema. We are examining the perils facing film producers and distributors; looking at the challenges encountered in archives and during restoration work; and showing films about characters who have everything at stake. These are layers of risk that often overlap and are mutually reinforcing.

→ More about the festival

Further events

Saturday 24.10.

Sunday 25.10.