High Arctic : Life on the Land

In March 2007, seven Canadian and Inuit rangers and one female documentary filmmaker set out to cover more than 2000 km of the harshest terrain on the planet. They confront blizzards, labyrinths of crushed sea ice and near-impassable glaciers, with temperatures hovering around -50°C, to raise a flag on the northernmost tip of Canadian soil (a mere 412 km from the North Pole). With a mesmerizing soundtrack by Nunavut-born singer and narrator Tanya Tagaq and spectacular footage of the Arctic landscape, Dianne Whelan's documentary This Land captures the epic adventure with raw immediacy.

Arctic IV is a fascinating document of extraordinary efforts to penetrate beyond the known frontiers of science. These efforts involve chipping through six feet or more of ice, then jumping into the frigid, watery depths at the North Pole and at Resolute Bay. In the unbroken daylight of an Arctic spring, film cameras follow Dr. Joseph MacInnis, a specialist in underwater medicine, and his scientific crew as they probe, explore, and test the polar depths. Oil, these divers prove, can penetrate the ice from below and accelerate the melting on the surface. They also find dead spots in the ocean, and identify the chemical defoliants used in far-off Vietnam in samples taken during the dives. Arctic IV is an exciting, eyewitness view of what it is like to explore the unknown world beneath the Arctic ice.

The record of an expedition by four scientists and their Indigenous guides into the unmapped wilderness of the Ungava Peninsula. Crossing this territory in large canoes, they collect samples of Arctic flora and rocks at each stop, take readings of soil temperature, and record the correct bearings for rivers and lakes en route. The keen excitement of opening a new chapter in Canadian exploration is evident throughout the film.