South Pole International Film Festival a huge hit

“Are you ready to get your SPIFF on?”

These words, directed at the packed-to-capacity galley at South Pole Station, opened up the fifth annual South Pole International Film Festival screened here at Amundsen-Scott on Jan. 26.

The SPIFF event is a well-loved tradition. Anyone can participate. Cameras and film gear are made available, as well as movie programming software and tutorials. SPIFF lets Polies exercise their creativity and document this unique living environment at the same time. Having been assigned to write a review of SPIFF for the Antarctic Sun, I was particularly excited to see the results.

People began talking about their thoughts for this year’s films before even getting off the LC-130. SPIFF has been a regular dinnertime topic for months, stirring everyone’s imaginations. A fall showing of the “best of” previous SPIFFs helped garner enthusiasm and spur people on to make their ideas turn into realities.

While the turnout this year was admittedly small – only nine films were entered, a total 46 minutes – the showing, by all accounts, far exceeded expectations.

“The humorous, representative, and above all personal films here at 90 degrees south” were the introductory words of host Mike Rousseau. Often funny, anything goes in the South Pole International Film Festival: Nothing is censored before the showing. They are a fertile ground for station editorials and self-mockery alike.

The first and arguably one of the crowd favorites was “Beacon,” directed by Tom Piwowarski. Mocking and celebrating one of the irritations of South Pole, this film depicted a Polie barred from crossing the landing strip by our crossing beacon (imagine a crosswalk light flashing “Don’t walk”) – with not a plane in sight. The despondent Polie looks high and low for a plane in a series of beautifully filmed angle shots (including the reflection of the flashing beacon in his polarized sunglasses) but to no avail. During his dramatized wait he pours himself coffee, smokes a cigarette, peels an apple, and even does pushups, before the scene changes to the cause of his plight: A Christmas party is being thrown in Communications, and someone has put a plate down directly on top of the crossing beacon switch.

“End of Quad” by Tom Culverhouse and Jamie Hinderks commemorated the shutting down of the Quad telescope. The memorial service was performed to the funereal sounds of “Amazing Grace,” right up to a sheet being sorrowfully draped over the telescope’s lens. An unseen narrator asked one mourner, “What did the Quad mean to you?”

“Three years of fun,” he answered, and the music changed suddenly to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing,” bringing the audience from a nostalgic wistfulness into celebration. The end credits elicited a small sigh from all. Such is the mercurial life of science funding.

Shelly Denike’s contribution was the entry of the direct sound transcripts, photographs and video of a call made by Sir Edmund Hillary to the South Pole from McMurdo Station in 2004. Hillary, who died on Jan. 11, has been a major figure in Antarctic history. This high frequency call to South Pole was made on one of his final trips to the continent. While the man who first scaled Mount Everest was elderly and the HF line crackled, the spirit of this New Zealand legend still came through. It was a timely addition to this year’s festival.

Three films were done by the galley crew, showing the “unseen side of the galley” and “what really happens on night shift.” This included everything from station sabotage to spa treatments and dance parties. All three will probably increase applications to the galley next year.

Mark Eisinger commented on the role of SPIFF as a record of each season and unique group of people. “People look forward to the ‘Race Around the World’ and to SPIFF more than any other event,” he said. “Everyone has New Year’s and Christmas parties, but these events are truly unique and anticipated highlights in the summer season.” Many are involved as actors and support. “It’s fun for me to have a lot of people involved in this,” said Mark.

Filming challenges are certainly many, among them, of course, being the effects of the intense cold. The camera battery can last about five minutes without freezing up.

How did SPIFF start here at South Pole and how has it become such a quality tradition? Some say that it’s the environment that inspires. “Look at where you are,” said Mark. “You’re at the bottom of the world. Just look at what you can come up with.”

Other opinions also credit the environment, but with perhaps more cynicism: “It’s a good distraction from the everyday reality of our jobs and from this crazy place,” said one participant.

Distracting from or inspired by our extreme location, the South Pole International Film Festival is certainly a surprising – and consistent – success.

Meg Adams, who grew up in Holden and graduated from John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor, shares her Antarctic experiences with readers each Friday. For more about her adventure, information about Antarctica and to e-mail questions to her, go to the BDN Web site: bangordailynews.com