We are delighted that the inaugural GO Diving Show ANZ (28-29 September at Sydney Showground) will be kickstarted in fine fashion – with an exclusive screening on the Main Stage of the phenomenal award-winning documentary Diving Into The Darkness.
Join us at 9.45am at the Main Stage on the Saturday morning and prepare for one of the most outstanding documentaries I have watched in recent years (read my full review below). Even better, immediately after the showing, Jill Heinerth herself will be gracing the Main Stage to give an amazing presentation. Director Nays Baghai will also be at the show, taking to the ANZ / Inspiration Stage on the Saturday afternoon.
Review: Diving Into The Darkness
Mark Evans: When I first heard about Diving Into The Darkness, I was very much looking forward to seeing it for myself, especially as it centres on my friend and diving legend Jill Heinerth. Her story has long deserved showcasing, and now I have had the opportunity to view it first-hand, I can confirm that film-maker Nays Baghai has outdone himself with the final documentary – it truly does deserve all of the accolades it has already received in the short time it has been on release.
The film has already won Best Documentary Feature award at this year’s Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and Outstanding Excellence award at the Documentaries Without Borders event.
One of the world’s greatest living cave-divers, Canadian explorer Heinerth has been involved in some of the most-demanding and celebrated expeditions, from surveying the world’s longest caves in Mexico to discovering giant iceberg caves in Antarctica.
Juxtaposed with some of these epic dives, which are depicted with clips and archive still shots, the 96-minute documentary includes intimate interviews and animated flashbacks to Heinerth’s younger years, helping to explain her motivation for taking part in such extreme challenges.
More than 100 of her friends have died in the depths, but she maintains that each adventure brings her a step closer to becoming the woman she wished she had met as a child.
I have always believed there are two kinds of diver – those who love cave diving, and those who don’t – and I fall firmly in the latter category. There has always been something about caves that gives me ‘the willies’, and Diving Into The Darkness has done nothing to change my mind!
Seeing amazing footage of Jill effortlessly gliding through cave systems adorned with stalactites, stalagmites and other topographical oddities, in spectacularly clear visibility, I have to say I was starting to be tempted just the tiniest amount.
But then other segments – particularly a harrowing lost-in-a-cave moment filmed exceptionally well by Nays and the team (you know full well it is a recreation of the incident in question, but it is so well shot that your heart starts racing as you get caught up in the situation) – rein in my momentary madness and I am back in the ‘I’ll stick to wrecks, walls and reefs’ category of diver!
Jill Heinerth is a captivating speaker if you are lucky enough to catch her on stage, and her charisma and personality burst forth from the film much like she was sitting right in front of you. This is complemented by the shooting skills of Nays Baghai, who certainly knows how to capture epic scenes on camera. This is by far one of the best documentaries focusing on diving I have seen in many years.
The GO Diving Show ANZ
This annual event, taking place this year on 28-29 September at the Sydney Showground at the Olympic Park, is aimed at showcasing the very best of our underwater world to everyone from raw novices who are either contemplating getting into diving, or have completed their entry-level courses, to advanced divers, right through to technical divers and veteran CCR divers.
There are an array of stages – the Main Stage, the Photo Stage, the Australia/New Zealand Stage, the Inspiration Stage and the Tech Stage – that will play host to dozens of speakers from around the world, as well as a host of interactive features to suit young and old, from VR diving experiences, a demonstration pool, and much more.
Surrounding the stages and features will be a broad range of exhibitors, from tourist boards and tour operators to resorts, liveaboards, training agencies, retailers, manufacturers, and conservation organisations.
The 2024 GO Diving Show UK, now in its fifth year, attracted more than 10,000 attendees over the weekend, and spanned an area of 10,000 sq m of exhibition space, and the Australia and New Zealand variant aspires to reaching this level in coming years.
Entry to the inaugural GO Diving Show ANZ is completely free – register here to get your tickets for what is undoubtedly the diving event of 2024 in Australia. There is plenty of parking on-site and the venue is easy to get to with plenty of transport options, so get the dates in your diary now and prepare for an epic weekend celebrating all forms of diving.
