White on White

Slovak director Viera Čákanyová made her Antarctic video diary while shooting her award-winning film FREM. This powerful confession presents both environmental themes and some of her doubts about her actions.

In 2017, Slovak director Viera Čákanyová spent several weeks at the Polish Antarctic Station. Trapped in a monotonous, lonely life under extreme conditions, she chats using artificial intelligence, reflects on the meaning of art and life, strolls through Antarctica’s unspoiled landscape and, above all, films. As an observer of the changing Antarctic environment, she testifies to what nature cannot say on its own. The longer Viera is in Antarctica, the more she connects to the local climate and to nature, and her mind calms down. “Nowhere else have I felt so intensely that I am alive,” admits the director in the film that won the Opus Bonum Award at the Jihlava IDFF.