Main program  

On the remote New Siberian Islands in the Arctic Ocean, hunters search for tusks of extinct mammoths. One day, they discover a surprisingly well-preserved mammoth carcass. It may well turn our world upside down. Such finds are magnets for high-tech Russian and South Korean clone researchers in search of mammoth cells with the greatest possible degree of intact DNA. Their mission could be part of a science-fiction plot. They want to bring the extinct woolly mammoth back to life à la “Jurassic Park”, and resurrect it as a species. And that is just the beginning.  

Awards

Cinemambiente Film Festival – Best International Documentary, 2018

Moscow International Film Festival – Audience Award, 2018

Sundance Film Festival – World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Cinematography, 2018

Christian Frei is considered one of today’s most innovative and compelling documentary filmmakers from Switzerland. He was nominated for an Academy Award with “War  Photographer” (2001) and won the World Cinema Directing Award at Sundance with “Space Tourists” (2009). For his latest endeavor he reached out to Siberian filmmaker Maxim Arbugaev.

Selected Filmography

Sleepless in New York, 2014

Space Tourists, 2009

The Giant Buddhas, 2005

 War Photographer, 2001

Maxim Arbugaev was born in Tiksi, Russia, on the shoreline of the Arctic Ocean. He wanted to grow up to be a professional ice hockey player. Discovering his passion for cinematography in the solitude of Russian Arctic, he studied documentary filmmaking at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography in Moscow. In his personal work he often discovering and capturing the remote worlds and people who inhabit them. He is a director and cinematographer known for “The Hunters” (2014), “Genesis 2.0” (2018).

Selected Filmography

Hunters, 2014

Following the Discoverers, 2013