Do Hydro-electric reservoirs located in boreal forests contribute to global warming? Do these artificial basins increase the production of greenhouse gases, or could they rather fit into a sustainable development policy? These are critical questions - especially in the present times - and upon a request from Unité Environnment of Hydro-Québec Production, a team of research scientists from two major universities decided to take a close look into them. They took samples and performed extensive analyses, before and after Hydro-Québec built a new power plant on the Eastmain River, in Northen Québec. In 2005 and 2006 multiple-media.com filmed the scientific teams on site in high definition format, and interviewed several scientists. The result is a beautiful 22 minute-long documentary film titled World Premiere North of the 52nd Parallel - Research on greenhouse gases at the Eastmain-1 reservoir, which was co-directed by Renato Cudicio and Sophie Deraspe.

In the eyes of the two directors, being able to follow high standards of quality was an absolute prerequisite for their

participation, and they wanted to be able to introduce a personal touch into the film. Renato Cudicio was a television producer and director for more than ten years, before he got interested in the Internet and launched multiple-media.com ten years ago. However, he still carried out personal films projects, such as In the meanders of the Mekong, a 52-minute documentary about the United Nations' Cambodian mission in 1992. As for Sophie Deraspe, she recently drew the attention of the media with her first feature film, Rechercher Victor Pellerin, which garnered excellent critical reviews.

World Premiere North of the 52nd Parallel..., which will be officially launched in April 2007, is a broad outline in layman's terms of the multidisciplinary research, which involved McGill University, Université du Québec à Montréal and Environnement illimité. This is the first time that a scientific team tries to perform an accurate assessment of the net amount greenhouse gases produced by a hydroelectric reservoir. The research scientists took samples and performed analyses just before and after the creation of the reservoir, monitoring the aquatic and terrestrial environments, as well as wetlands, examining the water of lakes and rivers, the soil of the forests, as well as the peat bog.

multiple-media.com Directs a Film About a World Scientific First