The fine documentary After Antarctica follows ecological adventurer Will Steger on two polar expeditions – different poles and twenty-five years apart.
In 1989-90, Steger led the first non-mechanized expedition to cross continent of Antarctica (the LONG way – from one coast to the other). This was a grueling and risky endeavor. The international team needed to avoid terrifying crevasses; (check out the beginning of the trailer below.) The volatility of the weather was brutal. Steger noted, “Antarctica doesn’t want us here, and is making every effort to remind us”.
The team faced a crisis of supplies and exhaustion just 16 miles from the end of their 3700 mile journey. They knew that the earlier Antarctic explorer Robert F. Scott had died only 12 miles from a supply cache. Steger’s leadership, informed by zen discipline and sheer force of will, brought them through.
The Steger team’s achievement will not be matched – due to climate change, the 4000 square mile Larsen ice shelf that they traversed is no longer there.
A quarter of a century later, After Antarctica follows a 75-year-old Steger as he undertakes a solo expedition above the Arctic Circle – contemplating the effects of climate change and and his own mortality. In contrast with the global celebrity of the Antarctic expedition, the Arctic march is solitary.
Will Steger, who has survived both a lethal mountain climbing accident and cancer, has lived a life on the extreme. He is self-focused, crusty and open, without defensiveness, about own personal flaws.
The two polar journeys, the examination of climate change and Steger’s own life are told through the voice of Will Steger himself.
After Antarctica is the first feature for director Tasha Van Zandt. We see never-before-seen file footage of the Antarctic expedition. The Arctic cinematography by Van Zandt and DP Sebastian Zeck is extraordinary. Van Zandt has said that the icy ground and the grey sky of the Arctic hindered depth perception, making the piloting of drones for aerial photography especially difficult.
I screened After Antarctica for the 2021 San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM), where it won a jury award. It’s finally available to stream on Amazon, AppleTV and YouTube.