50 speakers in the Omni Theater are driven by 24,000 watts of power.
MYSTERY OF THE NILE DOCUMENTS THE FIRST EXPEDITION DOWN THE WORLD’S GREATEST AND DEADLIEST RIVER
For thousands of years, man has been drawn to the Nile, known as “the Mt. Everest of rivers.” The quest to find its source consumed early explorers. When the source was finally discovered, the next great quest was to navigate the mighty river in a single expedition from beginning to end. Astonishingly, this epic journey eluded humankind for centuries.
On April 28, 2004, a team of intrepid explorers, led by expedition leader Pasquale Scaturro and his partner Gordon Brown, became the first in history to conquer all 3,260 miles of the world’s greatest river in a single descent from its source in the Ethiopian highlands to the Mediterranean Sea. The story of their exciting journey is recounted in McGillivray Freeman’s MYSTERY OF THE NILE, returning to the Omni Theater, an IMAX dome, on October 23, 2010.
Traveling by raft and kayak, the team spent 114 days navigating the Blue Nile’s treacherous gorges in Ethiopia, the flat, desert plains of war-torn Sudan, and the bustling port cities of Egypt, before reaching their final destination. Along the way, they faced nearly insurmountable challenges: the world’s most dangerous rapids, deadly crocodiles and hippos, gunfire from armed bandits, arrests by local militia, blinding sandstorms, exposure to malaria, and the relentless heat of the fierce desert sun—all while documenting their journey with an IMAX camera and two videocams.
Directed and written by Spanish filmmaker Jordi Llompart and produced by veteran large-format filmmaker Greg MacGillivray (two-time Oscar®-nominee, THE LIVING SEA, DOLPHINS, EVEREST), MYSTERY OF THE NILE features an international squad of adventurers, each with a personal mission. They include expedition leader Pasquale Scaturro, a geophysicist and experienced guide who has climbed Mt. Everest three times and run many of Africa’s toughest rivers; his expedition partner, Gordon Brown, a renowned kayaker and Emmy Award®-winning cinematographer who is one of few people to have kayaked through extreme whitewater rapids with the giant IMAX camera rigged to his kayak; Dr. Mohamed Megahed, one of Egypt’s top hydrologists who has come to study the changing environmental reality of the river that is so important to his country and family; Saskia Lange, a journalist who is compelled by the human and spiritual dimensions of the journey; Myriam Seco, an Spanish archaeologist sometimes dubbed “the female Indiana Jones” who leads the team on visits to the region’s pyramids; and Michel L’Hullier, an adventure photographer hoping to capture the spirit of the river and its people with his camera lens.
MYSTERY OF THE NILE first premiered in the Omni Theater in 2005. With the dazzling immediacy of IMAX photography, it brings the expedition’s bold voyage to life with unmistakable realism. Audiences feel like they are riding shotgun on the team’s 16-foot rafts as they crash through the rapids in Ethiopia’s remote desert canyons. They feel the intense heat as the team traverses the desert shores of Sudan on their way to Khartoum where the Blue Nile merges with the White Nile to form the Nile proper. They witness the human struggle inherent in such an arduous journey and watch as the crew overcomes feelings of fear and frustration. But more than just a chronicle of a groundbreaking expedition, MYSTERY OF THE NILE also reveals a region that is host to abundant historical, cultural and natural treasures, where a connection to the ancient past informs our understanding of the rapidly changing future.
“The Nile is the most magnificent river in the world,” said Scaturro, who has co-authored a book about the expedition with Richard Bangs (Mystery of the Nile, published by Putnam in February 2005). “No other river can compare. And no other river in the world is as closely associated with a particular culture and society as is the Nile. Without the Nile there would be no Egypt, no pharaohs, no pyramids. ”
MYSTERY OF THE NILE will show daily at the Omni Theater through Jan. 3, 2011. Tickets are $7 for adults, $6 for children (2-12) and seniors (60+). Museum members receive a $3 discount. Find show times and buy advance tickets online or by calling 817-255-9540.
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