Mathieu Honoré

It's the largest Arctic expedition of all time. In September 2019 the German icebreaker "Polarstern" is on its way to the North Pole. The best scientists of their generation are on board. Their job are to collect data about the ocean, ice, atmosphere and life. The mission is to understand climate change, because the changes in the Arctic have an impact far beyond the region. The documentary provides spectacular close-ups of the MOSAiC expedition under the direction of the Alfred Wegener Institute together with the Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) and shows the world of the Arctic during the polar night, from which hardly any data and images existed until now. A scientific, logistical and also human adventure of a community of researchers and crew members who let themselves be frozen with the ship for a year in the ice desert near the North Pole in order to use the natural drift of the ice, captured for the audience in impressive images.

Count Louis-Antoine de Bougainville (1729-1811) is best known to gardeners for having given his name to the bougainvillea, an exotic plant with delicate mauve flowers. Fewer know that, during the Age of Enlightenment, he was the first Frenchman to officially and scientifically sail around the world. In 1766, commissioned by Louis XV's ministers, the navigator left Brest aboard the frigate "La Boudeuse", joined en route by the flute "L'étoile". His task? Navigate the southern seas to explore new territories and gain a foothold in the southern hemisphere. Accompanied by scientists, including astronomer Pierre-Antoine Véron and botanist Philibert Commerson, Bougainville docked in Tahiti in April 1768, which he christened "New Kythera Island" and took possession of on behalf of France.