about the movie
In 2021, Daga Bożek published a well-received book entitled “Polarniczki. Zdobywczynie podbiegunowego świata” (“Polar female pioneers. Conquerors of the polar world”). The polarniczki.pl website is the book’s continuation, where Daga publishes interviews with female participants of expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic. Daga herself also wintered at research stations on both sides of the globe (in 2012-13 at the Hornsund Polish Polar Station on Spitsbergen and in 2015-16 at the Polish Antarctic Station named after Henryk Arctowski on King George Island); she is a popularizer of knowledge on polar research.
Kuba Witek, a director and traveler, has been visiting the North regularly for several years. He cycled around Iceland, then directed a film about Polish people that live in the land of ice and fire. He spent almost two years in the Faroe Islands, where he directed two films and a documentary series. He participated in two scientific expeditions to Spitsbergen, organized by the Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Sopot. His latest documentary “Zwykłe Życie” (“The Ordinary Life”) tells the story of Adam Jarniewski, a Pole who has been living in Greenland for almost fifteen years.
Daga and Kuba met in November 2021 at the Nordic Focus Festival, organized by the University of Gdańsk. Soon they decided to make a film inspired by the Polarniczki.pl project, focusing on the oldest living female participants of polar expeditions.
The shooting set off in February 2022. The Polish premiere of “Ant/Arctic Women” took place on June 23, 2023.
Written & directed by Kuba Witek
Narrated by & consulted with – Daga Bożek
Production – northcam and Wytwórnia Filmów Oświatowych sp. z o.o
Executive producer – Kuba Witek
Music & sound design – Łukasz Palkiewicz
Cinematography & editing – Kuba Witek
Producer – Sławomir Kalwinek, Waldemar Drozd
Coordination of work & archival query at WFO – Jakub Krakowiak
Editing consultations – Anna Adamowicz
Digitization of WFO archives – Jakub Walter
Additional footage – Tomasz Wawrzyniak, Mateusz Prager, Paweł Madejski
Heroines
Maria Agata Olech
Anna Krzyszowska
Waitkus
Anna Kolakowska
Wieslawa Ewa Krawczyk
A geochemist who in 1979 set up a chemical laboratory at the Hornsund Polish Polar Station on Spitsbergen, and in 1986 was the first woman to lead the scientific group during the 8th glaciological expedition of the University of Silesia to Spitsbergen. She took part in 10 summer expeditions to Svalbard, and she is one of the main characters of the documentary “Zimny Ląd” (“Cold Land”) directed by Kazimierz Błahij.
Joanna Pociask-Karteczka
A hydrologist who in the 1980s participated in two expeditions to Spitsbergen, organized by the Jagiellonian University, during which she dealt with hydrographic mapping of a large part of the unglaciated part of Sørkappland. In addition to vast research and numerous scientific publications, she is also the author of volumes of poetry, including “Ocalenia” (“Salvations”) (2005), “Twarze Gór” (“Faces of Mountains”) (2008), and “Przebudzenie Ewy” (“Eve’s Awakening”) (2018).
Music
The film’s soundtrack will be created on the basis of sounds recorded by scientists studying glaciers and the “underwater life” of the Arctic and Antarctic, and then combined with recordings of Polish female instrumentalists and artists associated with various musical genres. The whole project will be overseen by Łukasz Palkiewicz – a composer nominated twice for the Fryderyk Awards, author of film soundtracks and producer of electronic music who has performed at the largest music festivals in Poland.
The soundtrack will take the form of a concert accompanying the premiere of the film, enriched with visuals, and later it will continue to exist as an independent music/multimedia project shown on the occasion of different cultural and scientific events related to polar regions.