Nathalie Lasselin's Topics:
Topic 1:
Impact: Exploring A Modern Lake in an Ancient Crater
In Québec lies one of the world’s largest and oldest impact craters. Manicouagan Crater was formed 214 million years ago. You can see images from space but none from underwater. Nathalie takes you on a journey to discover the fascinating submerged forest of The eye of Quebec.
Topic 2:
A day at the office: filming and diving in the Arctic
You all saw amazing images from polar bears, narwhals and all the wildlife and landscape of the polar region. But life behind the scenes is a perfect mix of logistics, team work and resilience in 24 hours day light. Nathalie shares with you her experience of 10 expeditions in the Canadian arctic including the filming of award winning series: Secrets of the whales'.
Nathalie Lasselin
Underwater cinematographer, expedition leader, speaker, tech instructor
Nathalie Lasselin is a multi-award winning underwater cinematographer and documentary producer. having worked on feature films, commercials and documentaries throughout the world since her debut at the National Film Board of Canada.
As a technical diver, she has filmed and explored deep wrecks and caves in more than 50 countries. She shares her passion for diving through technical/CCR /cave dive instruction and expedition dive leader in the Canadian Arctic.
Nathalie pursues better understanding of our planet through documentation and shares her concern for our fresh water resources through her films, articles in international magazines, and event lectures. Her drive is to bring people together and empower them through better relations with their own environment, ultimately for a higher quality of life.
She is a WDHOF inductee and a fellow of the Explorers Club and RCGS. In Quebec, kids in 4th grade (10 years old) study her and her commitment for the underwater world in their school books.
As a writer, she has contributed to different books and wrote: Under the river, the odyssey. Saving the St Lawrence River, in 2019.
EXPEDITIONS / PROJECTS
Through her non-profit organisation Aqua Sub Terra Exploration (ASTEX) (www.aquasubterra.org), Nathalie leads events to get people together, to take actions to protect the environment and promote diving.
- 2015: Femmes à la mer. The empowering event, World Records for simultaneous immersion of the largest number of female divers and free divers were set : 129.
- 2016: Femmes à la mer 2: 149 women broke their own record. At the event, Nathalie honoured the owner of Morrison’s Quarry, Madame Evelyne Morrison, for her 30 years of support to the diving community (www.femmesalamer.org). All profits from the events were given to The Women’s Centre of Montreal, a non-profit organisation providing educational and vocational training, and to the Greenland Shark Research Centre (GEERG) (http://www.geerg.ca).
- 2018: Urban water odyssey 70 kms dive traverse of Montreal. 2 dives of 15 hours each in 2 days.
ACTIVISM and EMPOWERMENT
This event engaged citizens to improve their relation with the river, the source of their tap water. Nathalie diligently trained in order to accomplish this dive and used her platform to serve as an example of determination and problem-solving necessary for environmental challenges that await us.
- 2021: The cost of free water documentary was shown on TV
- Urban water Odyssey: underwater cleanups. More than 13 tons of debris have been removed from the St Lawrence river in 4 years by Nathalie’ team and her 850 volunteers.
- 2021-22: Ongoing exploration of The eye of Quebec. Exploration of the 4th biggest impact crater in the world
