ELECTRIC PICTURES PTY LTD
Filmography
Submarine Mission Impossible aka Gallipoli Submarine (2008)
1 hour dramatised documentary in co-production with Mallinson Sadler Productions for ABC, ZDF, Alliance Atlantis, National Geographic International
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An Irish commander. A British and Australian submarine. An amazing episode in the ill-fated Gallipoli Campaign in Turkey that history has overlooked for almost a hundred years.
Submarine Mission Impossible traces the incredible true story of the submarine AE2 and her 32 man crew. A dramatic re-enactment of their terrifying dive into enemy territory is combined with documentary footage of a modern-day scientific expedition to determine if the submarine can be saved.
AE2's story begins in the early hours of the 25 April 1915. The Allies are poised to launch a major landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula. Their military objective is to open up a new front and knock Turkey out of the war. Crucial to this plan, Lt Commander Henry Stoker and the crew of AE2 are ordered to break through the heavily defended Dardanelles Strait, disrupt Turkish supply lines in the Sea of Marmara, and generally 'run amok'.
It's a mission many consider impossible. During the previous month, a Great Allied Fleet had tried to penetrate the Dardanelles, suffering heavy losses. Three Allied ships were sunk and nearly 700 men were killed. Two other submarines have made attempts on the Strait but failed disastrously.
AE2's heroic exploits over the next five days would become the stuff of submarine legend. But after the horrors of the Western Front and the bungling of the Gallipoli campaign, her story was forgotten... Until now.
AE2 has been lying in 75 metres of water at the bottom of the Sea of Marmara for almost a hundred years. After a confrontation with a Turkish gunboat her commander Henry Stoker abandoned her, opened her tanks and scuttled her.
AE2 was rediscovered in 1998 by a team of Turkish divers. She is clearly deteriorating. Her upper deck casing is corroded, and fishing nets and anchor chains from surface shipping have done considerable damage to her bow. However, she is buried in fine, deep silt up to the level of her waterline, and this may have done much to preserve her main pressure hull.
In 2007 an international archaeological expedition was mounted to determine whether the corrosion and damage has passed the point of no return. The expedition team are passionate to discover if she can be saved.
Rarely has such a detailed and complicated study been made of a wreck at this depth - and never on a First World War submarine. The vessel is the best preserved of its class anywhere in the world. It is also the largest intact relic of one of the most disastrous military campaigns of the First World War.
Electric Pictures and Mallinson Sadler Productions have been granted exclusive access to an expedition that brings together some of the world's most experienced technical divers, top marine archaeologists and, high ranking submariners. Together, they photograph the wreck and make a complete archaeological survey to assess her future.
Can she be saved?
In telling the story of AE2's heroic passage through the heavily fortified Dardanelles, Submarine Mission Impossible uses intimate documentary footage, dramatic re-enactment, archival footage, underwater photography, and state-of-the-art Computer Generated Imagery.
Awards:
Best historical documentary, 2008 World Festival of Underwater Pictures (Festival Mondial de l'image Sous-Marine).
Lotterywest Award for Excellence in Craft, Visual Effects, 2009 Western Australian Screen Awards.
Lotterywest Award for Excellence in Craft, Original Music Composition, 2009 Western Australian Screen Awards.