South & The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration on Film (Dual Format Edition)

Photographed by Frank Hurley, South is the film record of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s heroic but ill-starred attempt to cross Antarctica in 1914-16. It is both a unique historical document, and a tribute to the indomitable courage of a small party of men who set out on a voyage of discovery that turned into an epic struggle for survival.

Restored by the BFI National Archive from a wide range of materials, tinting and toning was applied to match the original prints and has produced this handsome and richly coloured testament to a remarkable episode in the history of exploration. It is presented with an extensive collection of films (many previously unseen) from around the world, highlighting various expeditions from the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.

The Films

• Antarctic Expedition: Sir George Newnes' Farewell to Officers and Crew (1998, 1 min)
• Departure of Shackleton's British Antarctic Expedition from Lyttelton, New Zealand, 1908 (1908, 8 mins)
• Nihon nankyoku tanken (1912, 19 mins)
• Fram's South Polar Expedition (22 mins)
• Australasian Antarctic Expedition Films aka The Home of the Blizzard (c1916, 68 mins)
• Pathé’s Animated Gazette No. 140 (extract, 1911, 45 secs)
• South – Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Glorious Epic of the Antarctic (Frank Hurley, 1919, 81 mins)
• Topical Budget - Dogs for the Antarctic (extract, 1914, 1 min)
• Dogs for the Antarctic - Sir Ernest Shackleton's dogs in quarantine at Beddington (extract, 1914, 1 min)
• Australasion Gazette - Captain Davis returns to Sydney... (extract, 1917, 30 secs)
• The Late Sir Ernest Shackleton Bathing Query (extract, 1922, 2 mins)
• El Homenaje Del Uruguay A Los Restos De Sir Ernest Shackleton (1922, 11 mins)
• Shackleton's Funeral (extract, 1922, 5 mins)
• Shackleton South Georgia Birds (1920, 13 mins)

• South audio commentary by Luke McKernan (2002) 
• Neil Brand on Scoring South (2022): the composer talks about his approach to the new score
• Neil Brand’s 2002 score for South
• Map of Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition with commentary by Kelly Tyler-Lewis (2002, 2 mins)
• Ross Sea Party (1917, 9 mins): footage was shot by Aubrey Howard Ninnis, the Aurora’s purser, and Alexander Stevens Chief Scientist presented with Kelly Tyler-Lewis 2002 narration
• My South Polar Expedition (1910, 4 mins, audio): Shackleton's voice recorded on an Edison Amberol wax cylinder a week after returning to New Zealand
• Shackleton Speaks (1910, 1 min, audio): another recording of Shackleton naming his crew
• 40-page booklet with writing by Bryony Dixon, Naomi Boneham, Charlotte Connelly, Masaki Daibo, Erik Frisvold Hanssen and Quentin Turnour