Yvonne Drebert is a Canadian filmmaker using cutting-edge underwater drones to reveal the hidden freshwater world, bringing an ocean exploration mindset to inland waters that remain largely unseen. From the shores of the Great Lakes, the largest freshwater system on Earth, Drebert leads expeditions to some of their most extreme and least-studied environments.  

For her new documentary, “Hidden Below: The Great Lakes,” she is currently exploring Superior Maximus, the lake’s deepest point at over 400 meters below the surface, as well as the sheer cliffs of Superior Shoal (an expansive underwater mountain range) in a mission to document species rarely, and in some cases never, filmed in their natural habitat. In the documentary “All Too Clear,” she documented the transformation of the lakes by invasive mussels, capturing new-to-science lake whitefish spawning behavior and uncovering a 19th-century shipwreck entirely encrusted in mussels, bringing global attention to the scale of ecological change.  

Drebert collaborates with scientists and engineers to develop next-generation exploration tools, including immersive stereo ROV systems and AI-enabled autonomous underwater vehicles. Her work supports a shift toward lower-impact research methods while opening new opportunities to study and tell the story of freshwater ecosystems at a scale and depth rarely achieved.