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Antarctica

Antarctica poster

An Adventure Of A Different Nature

Antarctica, a breathtaking adventure that explores the awe-some vastness and mysterious beauty of the world's southernmost continent, returns for a repeat engagement on September 14 at the Lied Super Screen Theatre.

"We are bringing back one of the first films that premiered in our theatre back in June of 1994," said Terry Hunter, museum director. " Antarctica was certainly one of the most popular films we've ever had at the theatre, so we're excited to have it back during the theatre's 10th anniversary."

The highest, driest, coldest and windiest continent on Earth is captured on the giant screen as never seen before. The five-story tall Super Screen provides audiences with a spectacular sense of actually being there.

When Director John Weiley and his crew began filming Antarctica over two Antarctic summers, they captured footage so realistic that this could possibly be the closest audiences will ever get to visiting the last place on Earth.

Their experience was one of the most grueling tasks they have ever taken on as filmmakers. "Working in this climate is a physical challenge that can be frustrating enough to bring tears to your eyes -- tears that freeze your eyes shut," said Weiley. The filming expeditions proved extraordinarily demanding an exercise in patience, courage and commitment.

Portraying a world that is peaceful yet dangerous, alive yet barren, "Antarctica" allows viewers to vividly experience what life is really like in the planet's largest, driest desert. Though 98 percent of Antarctica is covered in frozen ice up to three miles thick, the edges of the continent teem with life.

Antarctica is a place few have visited and fewer could imagine. It is a land of extremes, with six months of daylight and six months of complete darkness, a frontier that lured and defeated many an early explorer. It is a world where Emperor penguins seem to fly through icy waters and Weddell seals coax their young pups to swim. It is ice-cloaked mountains, treacherous crevasses and strange dry valleys, all part of the exhilarating view as the filmmakers take a thrilling helicopter journey across the vast continent.

Antarctica takes audiences deep within the icy blue waters of a crystalline cave submerged within the Chaos Glacier, never before seen or explored by humans. Viewers also join international teams of scientists in unlocking the mysteries of this desolate continent by studying ice cores drilled out of the earth's frozen crust.

The film is a Heliograph Production directed by John Weiley and produced by John Weiley and David Flatman. Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry is executive producer and worldwide distributor of the film. The museum together with the Australian Film Finance Corporation Pty. Ltd., provided financial support. The U.S. National Science Foundation and the Australian Antarctic Division provided logistical support.