700 sharks. One night. Zero chill. The ocean's most terrifying dinner party.
Originally, in 2014, Laurent Ballesta had just one precise objective: to unravel the mystery of groupers. To understand the issues involved in their collective reproduction. But although focused on the study of groupers, the real surprise came from the sharks. Never before had the team been confronted with such a density of grey reef sharks. The divers took up the challenge of counting them. Methodically, they repeated the operation many times to arrive at the impressive figure of 700 grey reef sharks. Each year, the team returned to the southern pass of Fakarava in French Polynesia. Until 2019, for the fourth expedition, "Gombessa 4" is the synthesis of precise and unique scientific protocols. The mission demonstrated that shark hunts are not anarchic, but rely in part on social organization within the horde, following in the footsteps of the 700 grey sharks in "700 sharks in the night (Gombessa 4, Genesis)".
Cinematography
Night diving footage that redefines claustrophobia
Practical Effects
Actual humans voluntarily descending into shark soup
Direction
Tension building that makes 27 minutes feel infinite
Director
Gil Kébaïli
Laurent Ballesta
Self - Directeur de l'expédition, plongeur, biologiste et narrateur
Yannis Papastamatiou
Self - Docteur en biologie marine, plongeur (USA)
Charlie Huveneers
Self - Professeur écoloque des requins et raie (Autralie)
Frédéric Bertucci
Self - Acousticien, université de Liège (Belgique)
Éric Parmentier
Self - Dr. en acoustique et morphologie, université de Liège (Belgique)
Damien Sony
Self - Ichtologiste, Profish Technology (Belgique)
Johann Mourier
Self - Comportementaliste des requins, CNRS (France)
Orphal Colleye
Self - Acousticien et morphologiste, université de Liège (Belgique)
Miri Tatarata
Self - Directrice de l'environnement, DIREN, Polynésie (France)
Yann Hubert
Self - Chef opérateur sous-marin (Gombessa)
Thibault Rauby
Self - Directeur plongées profondes et assistant éclairages (Gombessa)
Antonin Guilbert
Self - Biologiste marin et plongeur pro, Andromède Océanologie (France)
Yanick Gentil
Self - Chef oéprateur sous-marin (Gombessa)
Roberto Rinaldi
Self - Chef opérateur sous-marin (Gombessa)
Cédric Gentil
Self - 1er assistant réal., Coordinateur Gombessa, Assistant photo
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The 'Gombessa' name comes from a rare coelacanth species Ballesta previously documented, making each expedition a spiritual sequel.
Fakarava's pass creates a natural funnel effect that concentrates sharks—meaning this density phenomenon may exist nowhere else on Earth.
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