Dirs: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Natalie Hewit | UK-USA 2024. Doc, 100min

The actual voices of British Polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew come alive in thanks to AI techniques in this new documentary charting their remarkable journey to Antarctica in 1914.

The Endurance, his boat, would sink without trace but the crew diaries and original expedition footage and photos kept by team member Frank Hurley survive to tell the tragic tale for the first time ever,  restored by the BFI National Archive,

Interweaving past and present in a tense step by step expose, a team of current day explorers reveal how the ship was located over a century later in the Spring of 2022, some 3000m beneath the icy depths of the treacherous Weddell Sea. It was intact.

Crucially Shackleton’s indomitable spirit, perseverance and courage was key to the survival of his 27-strong crew after the Endurance went down after being locked in solid pack-ice. Shackleton had continuously boosted the morale of his men and their trusty pack of dogs for an entire year.

The Endurance22 expedition team, onboard the South African icebreaker S.A. Agulhas II, made use of state of the art search technology to find the Endurance led by their Dr John Shears, expedition subsea manager Nico Vincent, director of exploration Mensun Bound and historian and broadcaster Dan Snow (son of ‘swingometer’ supremo John Snow).

Keeping alive the memory of Sir Ernest Shackleton the documentary serves as both a gripping slice of history and a tribute to all those who risk their lives in courageous endeavour. @MeredithTaylor

SCREENING DURING THE BFI LONDON FILM FESTIVAL 2024