DIRECTOR/PHOTOGRAPHY: Samuel Collardey
PRODUCER: Grégoire Debailly 
SCREENPLAY: Catherine Paillé, Samuel Collardey, Grégoire Debailly
EDITOR: Julien Lacheray
MUSIC: Erwann Chandon
WITH: Anders Hvidegaard, Asser Boassen,  Thomasine Jonathansen, Gert Jonathansen, Julius Nielsen, Tobias Ignatiussen, Ina-Miriam Rosenbaum, Berge Hvidegaard, 
Hanne Hvidegaard, Flavia Kristiansen, Rosalia Korneliussen

REVIEW

“Although he’s warned to expect boredom and bitter cold, Anders, a young Danish primary school teacher, accepts a post in Tiniteqiilaq, a remote village of 80 inhabitants in Greenland. Arriving with certain preconceptions – the ‘Danish look’ as one villager calls it – Anders contends with cultural differences and an unruly classroom, to say nothing of the snow. Wondering what it takes to be accepted in this ‘hellhole,’ he’s advised to try learning the language and local ways – hunting, sledding, fishing. How hard can it be, he figures, to ride a sled?

French filmmaker Samuel Collardey often explores the blurry terrain between fiction and documentary. Meticulously constructed, A Polar Year blends purely documentary sequences with scripted moments involving the villagers. But these distinctions become academic as you give yourself over to cinema that’s thoroughly absorbing and visually breathtaking. Collardey spent months in the village before learning of Anders’s assignment and starting to film. His ‘reverse assimilation’ story reflects delightfully on Eurocentrism as well as on Tiniteqiilaq’s indigenous people, changing seasons, and rhythms of life and death.”

— Sundance Film Festival

FILM SOCIETY SCREENINGS

Timaru     
Monday 3 August, 6.00pm

Palmerston North 
Monday 10 August, 6.00pm

Hamilton     
Monday 17 August, 8.00pm

Queenstown     
Tuesday 25 August, 8.15pm

Dunedin     
Wednesday 2 September, 7.30pm

Westport     
Wednesday 9 September

Whanganui     
Monday 21 September, 7.00pm

Nelson     
Tuesday 29 September, 6.00pm

Canterbury     
Monday 5 October, 7.30pm

Auckland     
Monday 12 October, 6.30pm

Tauranga     
Wednesday 21 October, 6.15pm
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French Cinema presented with the cooperation of the Embassy of France and Institut Français