Single on Ice

This 1999 documentary goes behind the scenes with veteran Antarctic filmmaker Mike Single, as he films icebergs in the Southern Ocean. To Single they’re "ice creatures" and his mission is to get to their dynamic "essence". He and his crew face time pressure, storms, cabin fever, and challenges shooting underwater. Some of Single's shots of epic ice sculptures, calving glaciers, crabeater seals, gentoo penguins, humpback whales and trademark time-lapse cloudscapes also appeared in his documentaries Crystal Ocean (a 2000 Emmy Award-winner), and Katabatic.

The problem is amplified by the challenge of making inanimate objects like icebergs into characters that viewers can identify with. They're the things most filmmakers use as back-drops. [Mike] Single hopes to shift them to centre stage.

– Narrator Peter Hayden on the challenges of filming icebergs

Key Cast & Crew

Peter Hayden

Executive Producer, Narrator

Mike Single

Camera, Subject

Rachael Wilson

Camera, Director

Allan Baddock

Writer

Michael Stedman

Executive in Charge of Production

Karen Jackson

Editor