Ice Grave
Synopsis
On July 11, 1897, three men - the Swedish engineer Salomon August Andrée and his companions Nils Strindberg and Knut Fraenkel - set off from Spitsbergen for the North Pole in a hydrogen balloon, a daring attempt to conquer the Arctic from the air. Contact is lost after a few days. They are never seen again. Thirty-three years later, on August 6, 1930, a sealing ship makes a chilling discovery on the remote Island of Kvitøya, the northernmost part of Svalbard. The expedition’s remains, bodies frozen in time beneath the snow, alongside journals and undeveloped film material. Ninety-three of the 240 recovered photographs are salvaged. The documentary reconstructs this expedition between delusion and vision, between scientific ambition and human vulnerability as a compelling mosaic of past and present – an archaeological crime thriller about the price of discovery, the beauty of the unknown, and the melting of memory in the ice of time, with a touch of tragic, unrequited love.
Where to watch
Not currently available to stream in United States.
Top cast
Hélène Gaudy
Self - Interviewee
Tyrone Martinsson
Self - Interviewee
Bea Uusma
Self - Interviewee
Gunnar Horn
Self (archive footage)
François Gillerot
Self - Narrator (voice) (French version)
Ulrike Johannson
Self - Narrator (voice) (German version)
Henrik Ekman
Self - Narrator (voice) (Swedish version)
Sandrine Grange
Self - Additional French Voice (voice)
Jean-François Legonin
Self - Additional French Voice (voice)
Robin Brosch
Self - Additional German Voice (voice)