RTL Group | Cologne, 10/07/2020

‘Expedition Arktis’ On TV November 16

Subject: Media & Services, Environment
Country: International
Category: Project

For a year, UFA Show & Factual camera teams exclusively accompanied the Mosaic expedition, the largest Arctic expedition of all time. The German channel Das Erste will broadcast the high-end documentary on November 16 as part of a theme week. “Expedition Arktis” takes the viewer on a journey into previously uncharted expanses of the Arctic – directly into the epicenter of climate change.

It was the largest Arctic expedition of all time: Frozen in the ice, the German research vessel “Polarstern” drifted through the Arctic Ocean for a year starting in October 2019. More than 300 scientists from 20 nations conducted research in a region that is almost inaccessible during the polar night. On the initiative of UFA CEO Nico Hofmann, UFA Show & Factual, part of the Fremantle Group, was on board as the exclusive producer of footage for the expedition’s entire duration. The spectacular footage was used to produce the high-end documentary “Expedition Arktis,” which will premiere on November 16 on the German channel Das Erste. In collaboration with Fremantle, a separate version of the documentary is also being produced for worldwide distribution.

“With ‘Expedition Arktis’ we are documenting an unprecedented scientific, logistical, and human adventure,” says Ute Biernat, Managing Director of UFA Show & Factual. “Our camera teams exclusively accompanied the Mosaic expedition for a year, creating a spectacular close-up view of this expedition of the century. ‘Expedition Arktis’ is UFA Show & Factual’s first high-end documentary project, which opens up a completely new portfolio into which we will continue to invest in future.”

Philipp Grieß, Producer at UFA Show & Factual, adds: “The Arctic is an extreme and incredibly captivating place. Absolutely unreal, incredibly quiet, dry, and icy cold, almost like another planet that is still completely unknown and unexplored. As a documentary filmmaker, I was fascinated from the first second to be filming where no camera team has ever stayed for a whole year: a project that will no longer be possible in the foreseeable future because the Arctic ice is getting increasingly thinner. The documentary ‘Expedition Arktis’ has no lesser a goal than to raise awareness of the greatest challenge of our time – climate change.”

For one year, a total of ten documentary filmmakers accompanied the scientists, covering their research and the goings-on on board the “Polarstern.” At temperatures of minus 40 degrees Celsius, the UFA Show & Factual camera teams filmed day after day in the Arctic – including almost 140 days in complete darkness during the polar night. The filmmakers moved on the ice floe at the end of the world, snow crunching under their feet, as they documented every step of the scientific work in the Arctic, resulting in exceptional images that are already unique today – because the ice at the North Pole is melting inexorably.

Bertelsmann Content Alliance accompanies Mosaic expedition

In addition to the UFA Show & Factual documentary, the Mosaic expedition is accompanied by other Bertelsmann Content Alliance companies: Gruner + Jahr sent author Marlene Göring on the Arctic expedition to report for “Stern,” “Geo,” “Geolino,” and “P.M.” Her first stories from the Arctic were published in G+J magazines back at the start of 2020, with further reports to follow in October and November 2020. Photographer Esther Horvath also accompanied the expedition. Her pictures appear in G+J magazines, and Prestel Verlag (Penguin Random House Publishing Group) will publish exclusive photos in the illustrated book “Expedition Arktis” on October 26. Penguin Random House Verlagsgruppe will also publish the expedition report “Eingefroren am Nordpol” (C. Bertelsmann) by expedition leader Markus Rex on November 23. CBJ Verlag will publish the children’s book “Expedition Polarstern” on February 8, 2021, and the Audio Alliance accompanied the expedition with its exclusive podcast, “Arctic Drift – The Audio Logbook,” which focuses on the expedition’s scientific leader, and was published regularly during the expedition.