Deep-Sea Mining Doc 'How Deep Is Your Love' Hits UK Cinemas — SkimNews
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- "How Deep Is Your Love" follows a Natural History Museum research team and their underwater robot Isis to the Clarion Clipperton Zone in the Pacific between Hawaii and Mexico, where Isis takes five hours to descend 3 miles (5km) to the seabed.
- The Clarion Clipperton Zone is rich in mineral nodules and a hotspot for deep-sea mining, with only 0.001% of the deep sea floor observed by humans; scientists are racing to catalogue species before mining destroys fragile ecosystems.
- Director Eleanor Mortimer describes the film as neither an activist piece like Seaspiracy nor an Attenborough-style nature documentary, instead using "dreamlike narration" to pose philosophical questions about humanity's relationship with the planet.
- The International Seabed Authority (ISA) in Jamaica, featured in the film, earlier this year concluded negotiations without a regulatory framework and with significant gaps in environmental data needed to set mining thresholds.
- Even after identification and DNA collection, naming a new species can take up to 14 years, Mortimer says, in a process she calls an "ode" to taxonomists who spend hours "counting the legs of a minuscule animal you can't even see."
- The film introduces whimsical creatures including the neon pink "Barbie Pig" sea cucumber, the "Headless Chicken Monster" and the "Psychedelic Elvis Worm," with scientists superimposed on ISA corridors and London streets in a final fantastical sequence.
- "How Deep Is Your Love", produced by Luna Films and Ngauruhoe Films, opens in UK cinemas on 2 October.
Why it matters: The film lands just months after the International Seabed Authority concluded negotiations without a regulatory framework or environmental thresholds for deep-sea mining — the exact regulatory gap Mortimer's film highlights. With only 0.001% of the deep sea observed and naming a single species taking up to 14 years, the documentary exposes how industrial extraction could outpace scientific understanding of ecosystems humanity has barely seen.
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