Interview with Filmmaker Adam Ravetch

A new film is coming to Coral World International's 3D/Stereo Dome 180-degree cinemas. We spoke with Emmy Award-winning underwater filmmaker Adam Ravetch about the project, his creative process, and the inspiration behind the movie Dive the Wild Coast. 

Still from the production of Dive the Wild Coast. Copyright: Coral World International

How did you get into underwater cinematography?  

Being immersed in water has been a way of life for as long as I can remember—starting in my backyard pool at age 3 and bodysurfing with my father along the mighty shores of the Pacific Ocean. When I turned 18, I learned to scuba dive during the heyday of North American university dive programs. At San Diego State University, I completed seven, 20-week each, dive courses and became a dive instructor, teaching in San Diego, the Middle East, and the Florida Keys. Alongside diving, I studied marine biology. 

Filmmaking was another significant part of my early life. My aunt and uncle were both Hollywood screenwriters, and I grew up surrounded by cinematic storytelling, which profoundly influenced me. Inspired by my family's legacy, I chose to carve my own path, focusing on telling compelling ocean-related wildlife stories—particularly those showcasing never-before-seen or unique animal behaviors—as my true calling. 

Tell us about the new movie.  

The film was shot off the coast of South Africa, with Benjamin Kahn envisioning a story centered around bait balls and great white sharks. After careful consideration, we chose this location.  What makes this place truly special is that it hosts the largest biomass migration of fish—the sardines—on the planet. Every winter, the Sardine Run along South Africa’s coast brings new hope. While large schools of sardines typically swim past South Africa while spawning offshore in deeper waters, a small percentage follow a nutrient-rich cold-water upwelling current that brings them closer to shore—sometimes within just a few feet of the Wild Coast. During this time, a strong warm-water current flows offshore, and since sardines are cold-adapted, they can't swim into the warmer waters. As a result, once they move inshore, they are forced to swim hundreds of miles along the coast before eventually emerging on the other side. This corridor, where the warm and cold-water currents meet, becomes a gauntlet of predators eagerly awaiting the sardines’ arrival. If the sardines don’t return or if the predators can’t locate them, a feast that represents a month’s worth of food could turn into a matter of survival. 

Adam Ravetch filming under water. Copyright: Adam Ravetch

Dolphins, sharks, seabirds, and even whales gather to await the sardines' arrival. These animals are the protagonists of our film. The story focuses on migration and the complex interactions between these creatures in this extraordinary environment. But rather than a traditional documentary filled with facts, it’s an immersive 3D Stereo narrative experience, that takes you on a journey into one of the greatest underwater events on Earth—one that very few humans have ever witnessed. It’s nature at its finest. 

Can you tell us more about the bait ball?  

When sardines sense danger from predators, they form a dense, compact swirling mass, literally in the shape of a ball, which has come to be known as a bait ball. 

For the sardines, this is a defensive strategy designed to confuse predators and evade attack. In such tight, compact balls, it becomes much harder for a predator to single out an individual fish and catch it. This strategy is highly effective, ensuring that enough sardines escape to sustain the species. While some may think sardines are easy prey for larger predators, the truth is that they are incredibly difficult to catch because they have developed numerous strategies to avoid being eaten. In this movie, you’ll see these remarkable strategies on display. 

Imagine being in the ocean, surrounded by sharks, dolphins, birds, and whales hunting you, yet armed with ancient strategies to avoid them. To me, this makes the sardines the true heroes of this movie, inspiring us with their ingenuity and resilience. Although, I have to say, the dive-bombing birds tend to steal the show. 

What was it like filming this?  

First off, this event is not always predictable. You could spend several years in a row and capture nothing. Making a movie like this, in many ways, is a risky endeavor. While I would say we were incredibly lucky, luck only comes through preparation. A big part of that preparation is working with the right people—those who know the area and understand the Sardine Run. I was fortunate to work with Morne Hardenberg of Shark Explorers and his exceptional team, who were also skilled underwater cinematographers with decades of experience on the Sardine Run. Another key part of the equation is spending as much time on the sea as possible. The more time you're out there, the better your chances are of witnessing something extraordinary and capturing it on film. This was our formula for success—if, and I emphasize if, the Sardine Run happened. 

We spent over 70 days on the water, heading out every day regardless of the weather—sometimes facing 15–20-foot surf, rain, and wind gusts of up to 50 km/h. Capturing natural phenomena like a bait ball is all about timing. You need to be in the right place at the right moment, ready to act. Some days, we would sit for 10 or 11 hours with nothing happening, and then, without warning, the sardines would come close enough to capture. When that moment came, we had to be prepared. The animals won’t wait for you. If they move away, you can’t catch up by swimming. Instead, we had to get back on the boat, anticipate their next move, and re-enter the water. Shark Explorers' experience with the Sardine Run made a huge difference, but even then, it was a constant cycle of getting in and out of the water, trying to predict where the animals were going and what they would do next. Nothing replaces the time spent out on the sea, always in "ready mode" to shoot. 

Adam Ravetch (left) holding the special camera used for this movie, with his technician Jurek Osterfeld (right). Copyright: Adam Ravetch

How do you film for a screen that delivers a 3D, 180-degree cinema experience?  

First off, it’s good to understand that Benjamin Kahn was determined to shoot the movie in stereo 3D to give the audience the authentic sensation of diving into the ocean and witnessing this magnificent event firsthand.  In the theater, bait balls and sharks will hover and swim right over your head in 3D—You’ll feel as though you could reach out and touch them, like you are there, something that simply wouldn’t be possible in a typical movie. 

It’s truly remarkable when you think about it—anyone in the world can visit one of the Coral World Parks and experience the Sardine Run off South Africa’s Wild Coast, up close, in 3D, in all its glory, while staying safe and completely dry. It’s an immersive underwater experience that only a few people on the planet have ever had. In fact, it's even more unique than going to space, making your visit to Coral World a truly one-of-a-kind experience. 

To make this possible, we filmed the movie in native 3D, capturing two separate video files—one for the left eye and one for the right eye—simultaneously, mimicking human vision. When these files are projected onto the Dome Screen, the slight difference in angle between the two images allows our brains to perceive depth, just as we do in the physical world. Coral World isn’t just offering a fun experience—they’re giving guests the chance to be right in the middle of one of the greatest underwater events on Earth: the Sardine Run. In many ways, this movie and the Dome Theaters are a natural extension of the vision upon which Coral World was founded. In the 1970s, the Kahn family, the founders of Coral World, spent numerous diving trips in Eilat and envisioned a revolutionary type of aquarium—an underwater observatory where visitors could descend a staircase into the Red Sea and experience close encounters with a real coral reef and its diverse inhabitants, all without getting wet. It was an immediate success. The current Dome Theaters are a natural evolution of that vision. They allow audiences to witness breathtaking ocean events that only a few will ever see, all in 3D, up close, and safely—without getting wet. 

Adam Ravetch, filming underwater in the Arctic. Copyright: Adam Ravetch

What were, and are your hopes for making this movie? 

On a personal level, capturing this event was nothing short of extraordinary. For any diver in the world, being in the middle of a massive bait ball, surrounded by sharks, dolphins, and birds speeding and feasting around you, is an adrenaline-filled, dangerous rush unlike any other. It stands out as one of the most incredible sensory dives I’ve ever experienced on Earth. To then have the opportunity to capture this breathtaking event in 3D was both incredibly challenging and deeply rewarding. Despite the technical hurdles and tough conditions, it was essential to me that, from an animal behavior perspective, the footage met or exceeded the standards of anything previously captured during the Sardine Run. I truly believe it lives up to that.  

Equally important was ensuring we honored the hard work of the people we worked with, Shark Explorers, and the cinematographers who captured this footage, by crafting a compelling narrative that would captivate and leave a lasting impression on the audience. 

The movie Dive the Wild Coast promises to take viewers on a once-in-a-lifetime journey. From the moment the first 3D image appears on screen, it grabs your attention and doesn’t let go. Its pacing, storytelling, and drive are thrilling, while the animals' remarkable abilities are inspiring. This immersive and action-packed journey will leave people eager to watch it again and again. With each seat in the theater offering a unique perspective and new details to discover, it’s a legendary dive, a legendary adventure, that no one will want to miss. I’m proud that we can offer this authentic experience for anyone visiting the Coral World Parks. 

Copyright: Adam Ravetch

About Adam Ravetch  

Adam Ravetch is an Emmy Award-winning underwater wildlife cinematographer, filmmaker, and Lowell Thomas Award winner. Coming from a distinguished lineage of screenwriters, Adam was inspired to tell stories but sought his own path beyond Hollywood and dedicated his career to capturing and narrating undiscovered animal behavior. His groundbreaking film Arctic Tale for Paramount Pictures warned of climate change through the lens of a young walrus and polar bear’s survival, followed by National Geographic/Universal Pictures’ Polar Bear, which chronicled a teenage bear’s struggle in a warming world. His work is featured in BBC’s Planet Earth, Disney’s Secrets of the Whales, Apple TV’s Big Beasts, Netflix’s Wolves of the Sea, Imax’s to The Arctic, and numerous award-winning National Geographic and PBS films. Recently, Adam received the prestigious NOGI Award for the Arts from the Academy of Underwater Arts & Sciences, joining legends like Cousteau, Cameron, and Benchley. 

NOGI Award for the Arts: Brief Video 

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