SYNOPSIS

For adventurous thrill-seekers, caving is hard to beat. Combining climbing, diving, wayfinding and overcoming claustrophobia, it’s a unique skill set not for the faint of heart.

Two gritty teams of hobbyist explorers are on the cusp of discovering new territory. Katie Graham is an accountant by day who is obsessed with the Bisaro Anima cave in the Rocky Mountains, and she is willing to risk it all to achieve a caving depth record that depends on a successful scuba dive. Further west on Vancouver Island is Franck Tuot, who sacrifices weekends away from his young family with the goal of linking two tunnel systems that will mark the longest-known cave in Canada.

Regardless of whether they are successful in their missions, understanding their motivations and dedication is what makes their pursuits so compelling. Accessing the depths of the earth through muddy crawls, tight squeezes, and seemingly endless pits, for these intrepid explorers, there’s nowhere to go but down.

Awards

  • BEST ADVENTURE FILM - Banff Mountain Film Fest

  • BEST FILM ON ADVENTURE AND EXPLORATION - Ladek Mountain Film Fest

  • BEST ADVENTURE & EXPLORATION FILM - Kendal Mountain Fest

  • BEST MOUNTAIN CULTURE FILM OF THE YEAR - Nordic Adventure Film Fest

  • BEST EXPLORATION FILM - Lookout Wild Film Fest

  • BEST CANADIAN FILM - Vancouver International Mountain Film Fest

BISARO Team

ARGO Team

FRANCK TUOT - Originally from France, Franck discovered a passion for caving when he moved to Northern Vancouver Island and started working in forestry where he stumbled upon some entrances. He struggles to balance his love of caving with the commitments of having two young children and a full time job.

JOHN LAY - John has been caving for nearly two decades. John is a strong bolt climber, leading most of the vertical climbs. He comes up island most weekends to explore the cave systems with Franck with a dream of finding a connection between two large cave systems and claiming the title of longest cave in the country.

PETER CURTIS - The most experienced caver on the crew, he has been caving since the 70’s and taught Franck how to cave responsibly and survey caves, so their work is documented for future exploration. He was also a member of the caving band Dangerous Dick and the Duckbusters.

KATIE GRAHAM - Small in stature but driven to push her limits harder than anyone else, Katie is an obsessive explorer with a silly streak. She’s always the one to have a flask of something fun or an impromptu puppet show up her sleeve. Her desk job as a financial analyst couldn’t be farther from her weekend exploits, but she is determined to push her diving skills to their limit at the bottom of Bisaro Anima.

JEREMY BRUNS - A second generation caver (son of Henry Bruns who first discovered the Bisaro Anima cave entrance more than 10 years ago). By plotting the underground water system of Bisaro, he knows the cave has the potential to be almost twice as deep as it is currently known to be. He has been on nearly every expedition to this cave in the past decade

ADAM WALKER - The only “professional” on the team, Adam is a caving guide determined to join this expedition even though he has never stepped foot in this particular cave and is a new diver. Katie wants him to be the back up diver on the team for this perilous adventure.

The Cavers

The Filmmakers

FRANCOIS-XAVIER DE RUYDTS - Director, Writer, Cinematographer

“Fix” is a documentary filmmaker and photographer specialized in adventure and natural history. Joining expeditions all over the world, he has always made a point to document the most inaccessible places on the planet. Walking the line between adventure and science, one topic can be found throughout his work: exploration! Fix was named by the Canadian Geographic Society one of Canada’s 100 greatest explorers and has won several awards including a Leo Award for best cinematography for his TV series Terres d’Exploration. Born in Belgium, he is fluent in English and French.

JENNY RUSTEMEYER - Producer

Jenny is a Leo Award-winning producer with Silvapark Films. Through creative involvement and strong outreach campaigns, her inspiring documentaries have had international success. Jenny produced This Mountain Life (Top 20 Audience Choice - Hot Docs, Best Snow Sports - Banff), The Clean Bin Project, and Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story (14 festival awards, #2 itunes docs in the US, the New York Times Top Ten TV Shows of 2015). She is currently working on season two of Search & Rescue: North Shore (Canadian Screen Awards Nominee for Best Factual Series) in partnership with the Knowledge Network.

The Music

Original music composed by Grant Baldwin and Stephen Fuller.

“Dangerous Dick and the Duckbusters” caving music (yes, 4 albums!) can be found here or on soundcloud.

This film would not be possible without the talents of:

  • Editor: Tavi Parusel

  • Additional Camera: Robin Munshaw, Matt Maddaloni, Grant Baldwin, Damien Briguet

  • Camera Assistant & Cave Specialist: Damien Briguet, Matt Maddaloni

  • Field Sound Mixer: Matt Maddaloni

  • Interview Sound Mixer: Malcom Owen-Flood, Evan Droog, Francesco “Frank” Russo, Mark Barry

  • Post Production Sound Mixer: Kevin Hamilton

  • Sound Designer: Kevin Hamilton

  • 2D Map & Photo Animations: Grant Baldwin

  • VFX 3D Map Animations: Ian Poon

  • Post-Production Services: Chromapost

  •  Colourist: Rob Neilson

  • Online Editor: Sean Bromley

  • Titles and Graphics: Sean Bromley, Rob Nielson

  • Closed Captioning: Line 21 Media Services Ltd