Siege of the South

Antarctica is the most extreme continent on our planet—higher, colder, and even drier than any other on Earth, and although it is thousands of miles away, what happens here affects every single one of us.

Arctic Tale is a 2007 documentary film from the National Geographic Society about the life cycle of a walrus and her calf, and a polar bear and her cubs, in a similar vein to the 2005 hit production March of the Penguins, also from National Geographic.

On 28 November 1979, an Air New Zealand jet with 257 passengers went missing during a sightseeing tour over Antarctica. Within hours 11 ordinary police officers were called to duty to face the formidable Mount Erebus. As the police recovered the victims, an investigation team tried to uncover the mystery of how a jet could fly into a mountain in broad daylight. Did the airline have a secret it wanted to bury? This film tells the story of four New Zealand police officers who went to Antarctica as part of the police operation to recover the victims of the crash. Set in the beautiful yet hostile environment of Antarctica, this is the emotional and compelling true story of an extraordinary police operation.

Gombessa Expedition 3 Protected by an international treaty Antarctica has been spared the effects of hunting and fishing. But signs in ice’s cyclical patterns and its biodiversity have become worrying. Connected to the planet’s global ecosystem via atmospheric circulation and ocean currents, this white haven is suffering the effects of human activities. To document and explain what is unfolding in Antarctica, photographer, diver, and marine biologist Laurent Ballesta and photographer of extreme environments Vincent Munier will be blending their artistic perspectives of a rapidly changing continent. Laurent will tackle technical and human prowess below the ice to bear witness to its remarkable underwater life. His photographs will advance knowledge on Antarctica’s unique and little-known biodiversity. On land, his eye riveted to the lens of his camera, Vincent captures snapshots of life in an Emperor Penguin colony.

Imagine a world coloured by ice and fire, carved by hurricane force winds, weighted by glaciers, carpeted by wildlife perfectly adapted to freezing conditions and winters of perpetual darkness: a world essentially inhospitable to man, still largely unexplored. It is the White Continent... Antarctica. Featuring the Antarctica Peninsula, South Georgia and the Falkland Islands, Antarctica Dreaming documents all major Antarctic and sub-Antarctic animals. Their lifecycles captured over an entire season of varying climate conditions, from wild white blizzards to fire red sunsets reflected in a glassy sea.

This 1898 film is the earliest known surviving footage relating to the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration. Sir George Newnes, who first published Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes short stories in The Strand Magazine, is seen here bidding farewell to the crew.

Footage of the expedition leaving Antarctica from New Zealand shot by government cameraman James McDonald. His excellency Admiral Sir Wilmot Hawksworth Fawkes, Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Navy's Australian Station, visits and inspects the "Nimrod."

At the bottom of the world is a place of wild isolation. Antarctica. Its vastness and extremes defy description. From volcanoes to glaciers... and peaks that scrape the sky, its geography is like nothing else in the world. Its wildlife embraces harsh, alien landscapes. And the people that make their home there for part of the year survive amidst unbelievable conditions, thanks to some of the most creative problem-solving on the planet. Filmed principally in the Sub-Antarctic and Ross Sea region as a series of vignettes - each based around one astonishing location after another - viewers will explore one of the most remote, and least-visited parts of the continent; less than 500 tourists make the journey to this region each year. Few places on earth capture the imagination like the great white continent. Now see it as it’s never been viewed before.

Andreas Kieling, a famous German documentary film maker, explores the coldest places in the world. He observes various animals in Patagonia, the Falkland Islands, Cape Horn, South Georgia and Antarctica.

Acclaimed filmmaker Werner Herzog travels to Antarctica, where he finds a desolate, beautiful landscape, largely untouched by human hands, and a group of truly unique people who risk their lives to study it. Centered at McMurdo Station, the United States' largest Antarctic research center, Herzog explores the minds of the scientists willing to abandon civilization and endure volatile conditions to learn more about the continent's wildlife and awe-inspiring natural wonders.

In this spoof of "March of the Penguins," nature footage of penguins near the South Pole gets a soundtrack of human voices. Carl and Jimmy, best friends, walk 70 miles to the mating grounds where the female penguins wait. The huddled masses of females - especially Melissa and Vicki - talk about males, mating, and what might happen this year. Carl, Jimmy, and the other males make the long trek talking about food, fornication and flatulence. Until this year, Carl's sex life has been dismal, but he falls hard for Melissa. She seems to like him. A crisis develops when Jimmy comes upon something soft in the dark. Can friends forgive? Does parenthood await Carl and Melissa?

A documentary about New Zealanders in Antarctica: researching International Geophysical Year, and supporting the Trans-Antarctic Expedition by laying supply depots for Vivian Fuchs’ overland crossing.

According to climate scientists, the year 2050 will be a tipping point in the history of our planet. As seawater slowly but surely warms up, the ice in Antarctica is melting before our very eyes.

A vast white wilderness that stretches across the south of our planet; a giant natural laboratory that has long occupied the human psyche. Antarctica is a continent of remote natural wonder. For brief moments each year this hauntingly beautiful landscape opens up, beckoning scientists and explorers from around the world to investigate its frozen secrets. 'Journey into the White Desert' takes us on a mesmerizing visual adventure into this mysterious continent, introducing us to a team of South African scientists, researchers and explorers who have braved the inhospitable continent in the quest to learn its secrets. The film explores South Africa's role in the greatest wilderness on earth and showcases some of the groundbreaking research that could make the difference to our survival on this planet.

An epic story of adventure, starring some of the most magnificent and courageous creatures alive, awaits you in EARTH. Disneynature brings you a remarkable story of three animal families on a journey across our planet – polar bears, elephants and humpback whales.

Documents part 1 of the Jan./Feb. 2002 light DXpedition to Antarctic's South Sandwich Islands on the vessel, Braveheart, where the VP8THU team activate one of amateur radio's remote areas.

A behind-the-scenes look at the making of "March of the Penguins".

Every year, thousands of Antarctica's emperor penguins make an astonishing journey to breed their young. They walk, marching day and night in single file 70 miles into the darkest, driest and coldest continent on Earth. This amazing, true-life tale is touched with humour and alive with thrills. Breathtaking photography captures the transcendent beauty and staggering drama of devoted parent penguins who, in the fierce polar winter, take turns guarding their egg and trekking to the ocean in search of food. Predators hunt them, storms lash them. But the safety of their adorable chicks makes it all worthwhile. So follow the leader... to adventure!!

From both ends of the Arctic, Nikita in Siberia and Martha in Alaska send a distress signal as the ground sinks beneath their feet and fossil fuel companies greedily expand into the far north.

Interview with a scientist from the Concordia research base, in the middle of an ice desert.