By John Corrado

A thoroughly engaging look at what it takes to live on the edge of the planet, the spectacularly filmed documentary Antarctica: A Year on Ice opens today at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema.  Tickets and showtimes are right here.

Although many workers and scientists populate the base camps and research stations over the summer, director Anthony Powell is one of the few people who has spent the entire year living in Antarctica.  This includes surviving the bitingly cold and dark winter months, when the remaining people are forced to become a tight knit community and help each other through.

Touching on the loneliness that comes from isolation, along with the humbling and spiritually reflective beauty of the untouched landscapes, Antarctica: A Year on Ice is a fascinating look at the experience of truly living in the coldest place on Earth.  But the documentary also has moments of levity courtesy of their delightful Christmas and New Years celebrations, and the quirky homemade film festival that Anthony Powell sets up to pass the time.

The time-lapse photography and montages of the aurora australis swirling through the starry night sky are simply breathtaking, rarely seen images of natural phenomena that make Antarctica: A Year on Ice a visually stunning film to experience.  It’s well worth a trek to the theatre for this one, especially as we enter our own snowy winter months.