Training for the South Pole

Andres Levinson

The first Argentine film related to Antarctica was shot in 1902 by the french pioneer Eugene Py.
Since then adventurers, explorers, scientists, and filmmakers have made plenty of films shot in
the sixth continent, but, for different reasons, most of them remain unknown until today.
In 1965 Colonel Leal led the first Argentine Expedition to the South Pole. It was called
Expedicion Polar Argentina​ or ​Operacion 90​. During the organization they trained in the field
with huskies sled dogs, checked several routes, learned to drive the Caterpillars and learned
skiing. Everything was shot in beautiful 35 ​Ferrania​ color and 16mm​ Kodak​ color film stock by
different members of the team. This amazing semi professional and amateur footage it's now
part of the ​Project for the Preservation of Argentine Antarctic Cinema​. At Orphans 2014 in
Amsterdam we screened ​Perros en paracaidas​ (Dogs Parachute into Antarctica, 1963) by
Gustavo Giró, the reception was incredible, and it became the starting for this big project.
These kinds of films teach us about a period when different countries dispute the sovereignty of
the territory but at the same time describe the collaboration between them. Tell us about the
people who went there in extremely difficult conditions and learned how to work, do research,
make science, and survive when communications were so different. For example in this footage
we can see scientists taking samples and different measures on the ice. This introduces us to
climate change during the last fifty years and the effects on the ice. This is a huge subject but
it's possible to think something about it through the film.
But also these films are notable exponents of a very special way of capturing reality because
they belong to the analogue era, when portions of reality were inscripted in silver halides
through the film stock. They show a unique kind of beauty, a unique kind of light, one that
belongs specifically to Antarctica and to the past but that we can bring to the present, for the
new generations that know very little about this Antarctic explorer and the mysterious white
continent .

Title: [​Amateur footage in Antarctica​]

ProDate: 1964/5
Run Time: 16 minutes
Color: C
Sound: Silent

Title: [​Antarctic tasks]​

ProDate: 1964/65
Run Time: 7 minutes
Color: C
Sound: Silent