SCHED: SF International Film Fest '08

Links: Event Details/ Who's going | Original Source
About: It has been months since the sun has risen over the icy, almost otherworldly terrain of the Antarctic. For the scientists and crew who have been living at the McMurdo research station, waiting patiently for the daylight, this creates a distinctive and inimitable working environment. In Ice People, four ardently driven geologists trek out into the vast expanse around the South Pole to spend the coming summer season in below-zero temperatures and constant sunlight, pursuing signs from a prehistoric past, the warm and lush Antarctica of millions of years ago. Two prominent professors and two undergraduate students spend their days roaming the land, digging in ice and snow, in search of the smallest piece of evidence from a world long gone. While they work in solitude, isolated from the rest of the world, they live in claustrophobic proximity to each other, camped out in small tents that dot the seemingly endless landscape. Shot in striking high-definition video, director Anne Aghion's documentary captures the austere and dramatically beautiful landscape as well as the human dynamic at work, highlighting not only the quiet splendor of the imposing environment but also its impact on the small team of scientists, both professionally and personally. Most research teams head out with larger crews and camp for shorter periods of time, making this group of four scientists even more unique in their exceptional passion to uncover the mysteries lying beneath the snow-capped mountains and glacial plains of this frozen land.-Rachel Aloy World Premiere.
Also playing on: Sat 4/26, 6:45 pm | Wed 4/30, 1:15 pm
Tags: documentaries