Fascinating Antarctica

  • Beyond Earth
  • Innsbruck Nature Film
  • Mountainfilm
  • Tulum

Whales blow their fountains into the sky, penguins jump into the water like small rockets, seals dive for crabs under the ice sheets. The Ross Sea is one of the last regions where the magic of the ice continent can still be experienced. But the consequences of climate change are slowly changing the environment. How many generations will still be able to experience the magic of Antarctica?

Year

2021

Length

86 min

Director

Tuan Lam

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Antarctica’s desolation is nothing but an illusion. The ice continent is full of life and offers a biodiversity of which only about two percent is known. Most of it is under water and could determine the future of humans.

When the northern lights cover the ice landscape in summer, the animals in the Antarctic are in a paradisiacal state. Whales blow their meter-high fountains into the sky, penguins fly like small rockets into the water, seals dive for crabs under the glittering ice sheets.

The Ross Sea is one of the last areas where the magic of the ice continent can still be experienced. The film approaches this unique region via the sub-Antarctic islands of New Zealand. Here life is blooming, here it is green and free of ice. This is what Antarctica could have looked like before the continent split off from the supercontinent Gondwana 180 million years ago and drifted towards the South Pole.

The transformation is part of its essence, its biological diversity has remained to this day. From the Ross Sea bay to the ice shelf, from the huge penguin colonies to steaming volcanoes – each station opens a world full of surprises and full of life in rhythm with the ice.

But slowly the consequences of climate change are also becoming apparent on the Ross Sea. While some species are dying, others are spreading. This also destroys the ecological system of viruses and bacteria which can become life-threatening for humans. How many generations will still be able to experience the magic of Antarctica?

Directed by

Tuan Lam, Yves Simard

Cinematographer

Peter Thompson, Alexander Campbell

Edited by

Oliver Szyza


Music

Eike Hosenfeld, Ingo Ludwig Frenzel, Moritz Denis


Spreaker

Romanus Fuhrmann


Graphics

Bitteschön.tv


Colour grading 

Christine Hiam


Sound

Maxim Romasevic, Henry Uhl


Expert advice by

Dr. Andreas Läufer, Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe
Dr. Klemens Pütz, Antarctic Research Trust
Prof. Dr. Angelika Brandt, Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Goethe Universität Frankfurt
Dr. Helena Herr, Universität Hamburg


Producer

Kerstin Meyer-Beetz, Spencer Stoner


Archive and Research

Pepa Kistner, Julia Krampe, James Muir, Peter Thompson


Postproduction

Xavier Agudo


Co-producer

Rachel Antony


Production Management

Kathrin Isberner (GBF), Katharina Krohmann (ZDF)


Editor

Marita Hübinger


Editorial Assistant

Nicole Schmode


Executive Producer

Christian Beetz


A production by Gebrueder Beetz Filmproduktion
In co-production with Greenstone TV and ZDF
In association with ARTE

Fascinating Antarctica
Trailer
  • „Just in diesem Moment überraschen uns die aus dem Theaterbereich stammenden jungen Regisseure Hans Block und Moritz Riesewieck mit einem erstaunlichen Dokumentarfilm, der seit Monaten Publikum und Kritik auf den wichtigsten Festivals der Welt elektrisiert. Völlig zu Recht: Es ist, als würden einem die Scheuklappen weggerissen, als sähe man das, was sich seit Jahren direkt vor unseren Augen abspielt, zum ersten Mal unverschleiert... eine fesselnde ,Doku noir' mit höchstem Anspruch...Dieser Film müsste an allen Schulen gezeigt werden.“
    Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
    17.05.2018

In co-production with

  • Greenstone
  • List Title

In collaboration with

  • ARTE

Produced for