Alone Across the Arctic

The Arctic is accessible to man only because of ice dogs. As hunters, haulers, and guardians, they have been our vital link to nature for thousands of years. Dogs led the Sarqaq people out of Siberia and, a millennium later, led explorers to the North Pole. As the light returns to Greenland, we arrive in Scoresbysund with a troop of the only companions worth having in this harsh environment.

Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, is currently at the center of international covetousness and tensions. In his rivalry with China for technological supremacy, Donald Trump has made the acquisition of this Arctic territory a priority in order to secure American control over rare earth elements, of which Greenland is believed to hold one of the world's largest reserves.

From the territories of the Arctic to the farthest reaches of the universe, Worlds of Ice shows us the astonishing omnipresence of ice.

The documentary film “To the Arctic,” filmed by director and ethnographer Leonid Kruglov, is dedicated to the discoveries and research of the largest icy desert in the world. For the first time, the film captures all the most remote and inaccessible Arctic archipelagos of the Russian high-latitude Arctic, which are scattered over an area of more than 10,000 km. Among them are Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya, Ushakov Island and the New Siberian Islands archipelago, Wrangel Island and the De Long archipelago, as well as many other hidden corners of the North.

The wildlife of the tundra on Alaska's north coast is particularly threatened by climate change.

This film shows the splendor, enormous scope and indescribable beauty of this untouched land far to the north of Alaska, one of the last havens for caribou herds and polar bears. Shot over a period of four years, this film offers a unique insight in the lives of the most charismatic arctic animals.

Through Inuit voices, HERD: Inuit Voices on Caribou tells the story of the social, emotional, and cultural disruptions from ecological change by putting an essential human face to the caribou declines - including a 99% decline of the once-massive George River Caribou Herd. The film was developed over four years of collaboration between filmmakers and 11 Inuit communities across Labrador. It cinematically explores an array of lived experiences, from youth to Elders and hunters to cooks, to ensure that the stories of those living on the frontlines of this ecological crisis are HERD. It is a portrait of the deep connections that exist between humans and non-humans, a glimpse of heartbreaking loss felt by entire communities, and a lasting testament of cultural resilience in the context of ecological uncertainty.

Two parallel stories are gradually unfolding the everyday life of two very different persons - that of 86-year-old Sara and 7-year-old Mihka - both residing in Guovdageaidnu - Kautokeino, in the middle of the Norwegian arctic tundra, through the drastic change of the arctic seasons and the passage from the long winter’s darkness to the never-ending light of the summer season.

Polar Bear Safari follows Randy, a wealthy trophy hunter on a 15-day hunting expedition in search of a polar bear and discusses the reliance of the Inuit on guiding these hunting trips to keep the community living in Resolute Bay in the Canadian Arctic where unemployment is high. The local Inuits selling their bear hunting licenses to wealthy hunters to help combat their financial woes.

The Chukchi reindeer breeders are peculiar people. They are nomads. Reindeers are their welfare, the purport of life. The mother-reindeer is the main divine being; it protects the Chukchi from misfortune and troubles. Nature is not friendly towards people here. Only Chukchi can survive in Tundra. A rush period for the Chukchi reindeer breeders comes in winter, when the temperature rises up to 50 degrees Celsius at night and in the sunlight of the day it doesn't exceed 40 degrees Celsius in tundra: they should separate young deers from the rest of the herd, the weak from the strong. And this, considering that the herds of the Chukchi reindeer breeders number some thousand heads...

Filmmaker Jerome Bouvier spent a year in Spitzberg following the incredible destiny of a polar bear family in a rapidly changing environment. Casting brother and sister twin cubs, this tale focuses on their education and reveals their individual characters.

The beauty of the Arctic is breathtaking. For as long as we can remember, the Arctic has been associated with inhospitable cold. But the climate is changing, and with it the northern polar region, which begins beyond latitude 66.5 degrees north. Climate change is now happening four times faster north of the Arctic Circle than on the rest of the planet, making the future outlook dire. At the moment it is still possible for polar bears to raise their cubs, but hunting is becoming increasingly difficult on the drastically shrinking pack ice. The disappearance of the ice also affects the marine fauna. The wintry ice bridge between Canada and Greenland is threatened with collapse. The unstoppable melting of the permafrost, which has held the tundra together for thousands of years, is worrying. But the Arctic is still one of the wildest and loveliest regions on earth. A documentary visit to the Arctic - as long as it still exists.

Die Polarbahn

Etthén Heldeli: Caribou Eaters travels with Déné First Nations people in Canada’s north, as they search for the species so vital to every aspect of their lives – the barren-ground caribou. The documentary is a celebration of their rich ancient culture, and a visual document lamenting their traditions that could vanish, if the caribou disappear.

La Voie arctique - Trois hommes à travers les glaces

In Antarctica, an artist prepares his installation simultaneously with a group of scientists conducting research. An essay on the persistence and loneliness of the creative act; like the flight of a butterfly in chaos theory or a silent prayer. A sensory experience. A visual poem made of ice, snow and wind.

Captain Kleinschmidt leads an expedition sponsored by the Carnegie Museum to the arctic regions of Alaska and Siberia to study the natives and the animal life.

Wenn die Arktis schmilzt

This is a documentary about the expedition of Sebastien Roubinet et Rodolphe André who have decided to cross the Arctic Ocean from Alaska to the Norwegian islands of Spitsbergen, via the geographic North Pole! For this, Sébastien Roubinet has invented a strange little boat "TiBabouche" capable of sailing on sea and on ice. This boat is a prototype brimming with technology and science, made-up by Hervé Le Goff, a CNRS engineer. It will allow Hervé to calibrate the satellite “Cryosat”, the first one capable of measuring the thickness of ice.

To be the first in history of mankind to take a sailing vessel to the Pole. One of the greatest maritime adventures ever undertaken: to cross the Arctic Ocean from one Land to the Other without assistance.