It is the largest Arctic expedition of all time: Trapped in the ice, the German research vessel “Polarstern” is drifting through the Arctic Ocean for a year. More than 300 scientists from 20 nations are conducting research in a region that is virtually inaccessible during the polar night. On the initiative of UFA CEO Nico Hofmann, UFA Show & Factual is on board as the exclusive moving image producer for the entire duration of the expedition. The spectacular footage will be used to create the high-end documentary EXPEDITION ARKTIS, which will be shown on November 16, 2020 at 8:15 pm as part of the ARD theme week “#WIELEBEN – Bleibt alles anders” on the German TV channel Ersten.

Ute Biernat, Managing Director of UFA Show & Factual: “With EXPEDITION ARKTIS, we are documenting a scientific, logistical and human adventure that has never been seen before. Our camera teams accompanied the MOSAiC expedition exclusively for a year, enabling us to create a spectacular close-up of this once-in-a-century expedition. I would particularly like to thank the Alfred Wegener Institute for the trusting cooperation and the opportunity to portray this expedition so comprehensively. I would also like to thank my colleagues at ARD – especially at rbb, NDR and hr – for their collaboration on this unique project. EXPEDITION ARKTIS is UFA Show & Factual’s first high-end documentary project, opening up a whole new portfolio in which we will continue to invest in the future.”

Philipp Grieß, Producer UFA Show & Factual: “The Arctic is an extreme and incredibly captivating place. Absolutely unreal, incredibly quiet, dry and icy cold, almost like an alien planet that is still completely unknown and unexplored. As a documentary filmmaker, I was fascinated from the very first second to shoot in a place where no camera crew had ever spent an entire year. A project that will no longer be possible in the foreseeable future. Because the ice in the Arctic is getting thinner and thinner. The documentary EXPEDITION ARKTIS has no less a goal than to raise awareness of the greatest challenge of our time – climate change.”

Ute Beutler, editor in charge at rbb: “A scientific journey to a largely unknown region of the world over such a long period of time is an extreme challenge for everyone: the crews of the participating ships, the researchers, the organizers and the camera teams. The global pandemic almost caused the project to be canceled. My respect goes to everyone who made MOSAiC and the extensive filming possible. The film takes us into an extreme world and shows how global warming is already dramatically changing the Arctic.”

For a whole year, a total of ten documentary filmmakers accompanied the scientists, their research and the events on board the “Polarstern”. At temperatures of minus 40 degrees, the UFA Show & Factual camera teams film day after day in the Arctic – including almost 140 days in complete darkness during the polar night. With crunching snow under their feet, the filmmakers move around on the floe at the end of the world. In the icy cold, they document every step of the scientific work in the Arctic. This results in unique images that are already unparalleled today. Because the ice at the North Pole is constantly melting.

The documentary begins with the departure of the “Polarstern” in Tromsø, Norway, in September 2019 and takes viewers on a journey to the North Pole. The camera accompanies the exciting search for the perfect floe with exploratory helicopter flights, skidoo tours and the first ascent on foot. It observes the construction of the research city on the ice floe, polar bear encounters, risky situations caused by cracks in the ice, snowstorms at night, the darkness of the polar night and the everyday life of the crew and scientists on board. Documentary windows, narrated close to the respective protagonists, provide an authentic insight into the expedition’s fields of research. Brief diary notes by the expedition leader Markus Rex, interviews, radio recordings and reports from the ship’s logbook structure the film.

In addition, the companies of the Bertelsmann Content Alliance are accompanying the MOSAiC expedition exclusively for the German-speaking public in image, sound and word.

UFA Show & Factual will be the exclusive moving image producer for the entire duration of the expedition, providing unique images of the expedition of the century. The footage will be used to produce the high-end documentary EXPEDITION ARKTIS for ARD, which will be broadcast on November 16, 2020.

Gruner + Jahr is sending author Marlene Göring to report on the Arctic expedition for STERN, GEO, GEOlino and P.M.. Her first stories from the Arctic already appeared in the G+J magazines at the beginning of 2020, with further reports to follow in October and November 2020.

The expedition will be accompanied by Esther Horvath. Her photographs will appear in the G+J magazines and Prestel Verlag (Penguin Random House publishing group) will also publish exclusive images in the illustrated book EXPEDITION ARKTIS on October 19, 2020. The expedition report “Eingefroren am Nordpol” (C. Bertelsmann) by expedition leader Markus Rex will also be published by Penguin Random House Verlagsgruppe on November 23, 2020. In addition, the children’s book “Expedition Polarstern” (ages 10 and up) will be published by cbj Verlag on February 8, 2021.

The Audio Alliance accompanies MOSAiC with the creation of exclusive audio content. The audio logbook “Arctic Drift – The Audio Logbook“, which focuses on the expedition’s scientific leader, is published regularly throughout the duration of the expedition.

ARCTIC DRIFT: A YEAR INTO THE ICE, the international version of EXPEDITION ARKTIS, has already been sold by Fremantle to numerous broadcasters worldwide, including Amazon Prime Video for Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Channel 4 in the UK, PBS in the US for their acclaimed science series NOVA and France Televisions in France.

Nico Hofmann, CEO UFA: “For UFA, the sales success of ARCTIC DRIFT points the way to the future: the documentary film sector will gain in importance nationally and worldwide – this trend is also reflected in the outstanding sales figures. The newly founded UFA Documentary will strategically exploit the great interest in this profession: the first projects are currently being developed in association with Bertelsmann and the Content Alliance or our cooperation with SpiegelTV. I am proud that we have recognized the importance of the documentary film sector so successfully and at such an early stage in terms of production: ARCTIC DRIFT is a fine example of this within UFA, Bertelsmann and Fremantle and a great launch pad for the long-term success of UFA Documentary.”

International sales include regional agreements with National Geographic for Latin America, the BBC Earth Channels in Africa and Asia, OSN for the Middle East and North Africa and AMC Networks International – Central and Northern Europe for the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. In Eastern Europe, LTV (Latvia), LRT (Lithuania), Canal+ (Poland), RTV Slovenija and Czech TV have acquired rights. In Scandinavia, the television channels DR (Denmark), YLE (Finland) and NRK (Norway) have acquired the rights. ARCTIC DRIFT: A YEAR INTO THE ICE will be broadcast in Spain on AMC’s own channel Odisea. In Italy, Rai 4 has acquired the first broadcast rights. The documentary has also been sold to VRT Belgium, KBS Korea, Gain in Turkey and Cosmote TV in Greece. The international version is based on the unique footage of the high-end documentary EXPEDITION ARTKIS produced by UFA Show & Factual for ARD.

Ute Biernat, CEO UFA Show & Factual: “The great interest in the documentary proves that we have hit a nerve with the topic. We have accompanied a scientific, logistical and human adventure that has never been seen before. In collaboration with Fremantle and our colleagues at Wild Blue Media, our footage of the MOSAiC expedition is now going around the world! It’s great that we were able to accompany this pioneering project and that the Alfred Wegener Institute gave us the opportunity to portray the expedition so comprehensively.”

The documentary will be broadcast in the UK, USA and France in October and November to coincide with this year’s UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), which begins on November 1 in Glasgow.

Philipp Grieß, Senior Producer and Director UFA Show & Factual: “The biggest Arctic expedition of all time will be shown all over the world. The team behind ARCTIC DRIFT is very pleased about the enormous response that this important research project is receiving through the worldwide broadcast. 385 days of filming in the once eternal ice have left a deep impression on everyone involved. We hope that we can share the magic of this endangered region of our planet with a large audience. A big thank you to our partners at the Alfred Wegener Institute and ARD for making this great project possible.”

ARCTIC DRIFT: A YEAR INTO THE ICE is a collaboration between Fremantle production companies UFA Show & Factual and Wild Blue Media.

UFA Show & Factual’s exclusive footage of the MOSAiC expedition can be seen in Glasgow at the UN Climate Change Conference 2021 (COP26). On November 7, 2021, the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) will present ARCTIC DRIFT, the international version of EXPEDITION ARKTIS, to an expert audience in Glasgow. Following the documentary, AWI Director Antje Boetius, MOSAiC Expedition Leader Markus Rex and UFA Director and Senior Producer Philipp Grieß will talk about the importance of the Arctic for climate change, the unique MOSAiC expedition of the century and the accompaniment of the expedition by the UFA Show & Factual film team.

“Thanks to the Alfred Wegner Institute, we were able to accompany the project, which will no longer be possible in the foreseeable future, as the ice in the Arctic is getting thinner and thinner. The people on the Polarstern have set themselves the goal of gaining a better understanding of climate change, and we were able to follow their research at close quarters. I am delighted that our footage is now also being shown at the UN Climate Change Conference. After all, we want to use our documentary to raise awareness of the most important issue of our time, climate change, and make it accessible to the widest possible audience,” says Philipp Grieß, director and senior producer at UFA Show & Factual for EXPEDITION ARKTIS, in the run-up to the climate conference.

The documentary ARCTIC DRIFT: A YEAR INTO THE ICE, produced by Fremantle-based Wild Blue Media and UFA Show & Factual for Channel 4 in the UK, will be shown.