The offshore waters of Lake Superior shield no one from the cold, including award-winning filmmaker Yvonne Drebert, who usually wears four pairs of pants and five tops to keep warm on the deck of her boat. A typical filming day involves Drebert and the crew spending the whole day out on the lake, hoping Kiyi, their remotely operated vehicle named after Superior’s deepwater cisco fish, will come across something magical. For more than 25 years, Drebert and her partner, Zach Melnick, have worked on documentaries showcasing the natural history of Canada. Now, the couple is focusing on a new documentary, Hidden Below: The Great Lakes, slated to air on TVO in 2028. The documentary will explore storm-battered shorelines, mighty rivers and underwater wildlife, peering deep into the depths of one of the largest freshwater ecosystems on Earth.

On filming in the Great Lakes

We all have seen lots of media on the oceans, on sharks and whales, and coral reefs and those things. They really are amazing, but I live out on the Great Lakes. I live in the freshwater world, and we see it as our mission to bring people’s attention [and] shine that ocean-style spotlight on the Great Lakes, where millions of us humans live. I bet most people, when they close their eyes, can’t even imagine the life that’s under there, despite it being right outside their door.

On what lies beneath the surface

When we started doing this work a few years ago, I was a skeptic. I grew up on Lake Erie at a time when the waters were seen as polluted or dead. I really didn’t think we would see much, but then my partner, Zach, convinced me [and said], “Hey, let’s try out these underwater robots, see what we can find.” We put [a remotely operated vehicle] in the water near our house, and we saw lake trout, and they were spawning, and they were coming right up to the robot. These are gorgeous fish. It really opened my eyes to think, “Oh my gosh, there could really be something here.” I am constantly amazed and impressed by what we’re seeing — and a skeptic no more.

On her upcoming documentary

We’re taking the next two-and-a-half years to work on the show. If Hidden Below makes people feel something about the Great Lakes, enough that they want to engage, that they want to volunteer, that they want to donate, that they want to talk to their friends about it, that’s really what we are hoping for. We’re hoping that people watching our show will walk away with a feeling, and that’s what they’ll remember. They’re not going to remember all the nitty-gritty facts — they’re going to remember how they felt at the end, and hopefully they’re going to do some- thing with that feeling.

On conserving fresh water

I think we’re all aware that there’s a great deal of pressure on our fresh waters. Of course, we need [fresh water] to drink and to live, but there are some pretty amazing animals in ecosystems under the air. If people care a little bit more and want to protect and conserve those landscapes, then we’ve done our job, and that keeps us getting up every day.

— Interview by Ana Maria Cadena