The arctic regions attracted many adventurers. Despite the difficult physical conditions of the Northern seas and its icecap, filmpeople tried to catch its fabulous scenries: cold pictures of a bruttal ‘land’. But this region of ice and snow didn’t attract exclusively the traveling people: home, in a warm studio it was possible to reach the North Pole by imagination. This program shows both ways of traveling: documentary and fiction, silent images of ‘the big white silence’.

The Nederlands Filmmuseum has a small biut beautiful collection of early documentaries on Artic traveling. In this program two unknown curiosities, contrasted with laterna magica plates about ‘the Franklin search’, an animation film and the famous Melies voyage to the North Pole. (Peter Delpeut, Nederlands Filmmuseum)