Grissoms Gold

Author: David Ash

Length: 50'

GRISSOMS GOLD is a record of a voyage to the depths of the Bermuda Triangle in search of treasure. The prize is Spanish silver and Portuguese gold. But the wreck lies five kilometres below the surface – at the outer limits of what today’s manned submersibles can achieve. A small band of adventurers and investors have come together on the Russian Ship Keldysh. Lashed to its deck are two deep-sea submersibles bristling with hi-tech cameras, lights and robotics. It’s all a relict of the proud days of Soviet science, when money was poured into technologies which would help the USSR dominate both outer space and the “inner space” of the deep oceans. But historical change has left the scientists without funds. To keep their ship afloat and pursue their science, they must form alliances with wealthy Westerners. The film follows the expedition as it happens, sailing into the Sargasso Sea with no certainty of what awaits below, taking our chances with the adventurers and capturing their moods and reactions. The Russian scientists are trying their best to ignore these distractions as they take their mud samples from the ocean floor, measure currents and hunt for new life forms more interesting to them than gold. The expedition also triggers a political question. The explorers who risk their lives at these hitherto inaccessible depths can be seen as marine archaeologists or ruthless treasure seekers. Should they be allowed uncontrolled access to this new world? To whom do the deep ocean realms belong? A Context TV GmbH production

year of production: 2005