Encounters at the End of the World

Encounters at the End of the World is a 2007 American documentary film by Werner Herzog about Antarctica and the people who choose to spend time there. It was released in North America on June 11, 2008, and distributed by ThinkFilm. At the 81st Academy Awards, the film was nominated for Best Documentary Feature. Synopsis Filmmaker Werner Herzog and cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger travel to Antarctica to meet the people who live and work there and to capture footage of the continent's unique locations. In his narration, Herzog explains that this film will not be a typical Antarctica film about "fluffy penguins" but will instead explore the dreams of the people and the landscape. Arriving at McMurdo Station, the two-man crew interview some maintenance and support workers and iceberg geologist Douglas MacAyeal. They travel to a nearby seal camp supervised by zoologist Olav Oftedal, then join the film's composer/producer, research diver Henry Kaiser, at a diving camp. The film then shows underwater footage shot by Kaiser. Cell biologist Samuel Bowser and zoologist Jan Pawlowski are interviewed, and after finishing their research, Kaiser and Bowser stage a rooftop guitar concert back at McMurdo. Herzog and Zeitlinger visit Ernest Shackleton's nearby cabin, which has been preserved, unchanged, for almost a century. After some footage filmed at the South Pole, Herzog interviews penguin scientist David Ainley. He asks Ainley about penguin sexuality and mental illness, and there is footage of a penguin marching away from the sea, going inland to its certain death.