Kiwi film-maker tells of sharing wonderful sights from Antarctic

Anthony Powell speaks to an enthralled audience about his experiences living in Antarctica and...
Anthony Powell speaks to an enthralled audience about his experiences living in Antarctica and becoming a film-maker. Photo: Peter McIntosh
All that glitters is not gold  but all that shimmers is probably cold, in Anthony Powell’s experience.

The telecommunications engineer and award-winning film-maker spoke at the Hutton Theatre at the Otago Museum last night about his experiences living in Antarctica and how he ended up becoming a full-time film-maker.

Mr Powell has just spent his 10th winter  in Antarctica and returns on the back of his successful film Antarctica: A Year On Ice, released in 2013.

The documentary chronicles a year of his life he spent living and working in remote locations on the sub-zero continent.

The film has since received awards at several film festivals including best film, people’s choice awards, best documentary and best cinematography. Mr Powell said several American companies all entered a "bidding war" for the rights to distribute the film which was unusual for a New Zealand film.

Mr Powell also spent time talking about his experiences with wildlife and how the cold affected him and his filming equipment.

A lot of the equipment he used to photograph and film he built himself, as most commercially made technology cannot withstand the harsh  environments in Antarctica.

He was one of the first to film a time-lapse and had to build his own tripod which did not freeze over.

"It’s pretty common these days but at the time no-one else was doing [time-lapse]."

He said while he had always been interested in film-making and photography, it was not until he started working and photographing in Antarctica that he really started to take it seriously.

"I was having all these amazing experiences and seeing all these amazing things but I was unable to share them."

His footage has been featured in several films, television shows and exhibitions including National Geographic, the Discovery Channel and  Award-winning BBC series Frozen Planet.

samuel.white@odt.co.nz

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