March 2015
We’re so happy to announce that Polar Sea 360 wins a prestigious Grimme Preis!
Team
Wolfgang Bergmann (Editor), Christian Cools (Editor), Marita Hübinger (Editor), Kay Meseberg (Editor), Irene Vandertop (Producer), Thomas Wallner (Director), Stephanie Weimar (Director)
Jury statement
A trip to the legendary Northwest Passage between the North Pole and Canada is not an everyday occurrence.
The interactive web documentary Polar Sea 360 of ARTE takes the user to the Arctic - with all-round visibility. Using 360° technology, the user can explore the rapidly changing life of the Inuit themselves and accompany scientists in their research. This way the effects of climate change in the Arctic can be directly experienced by those at home.
The interactive documentary Polar Sea 360 opens up a new dimension to their audience. By utilizing 360° technology the interactive web documentary creates an atmosphere of immediacy. It allows users to experience up close a region that is particularly affected by the impacts of climate change. The technical possibilities of virtual reality are skilfully exploited and combined with classic reportage elements. Conventional viewing habits are broken, since the user can determine the camera work and pay attention to those areas that appear to him particularly worth seeing. Here documentary becomes an exceptional and intense experience which brings us Inuit culture and the ecosystem of the Arctic region so much closer.
Trees in the Arctic - in this documentary it is still a simulation, generated by 3D computer graphics. But these changes might not be purely fiction for much longer. In striking images Polar Sea 360 documents the decline of Arctic sea ice, which has assumed alarming proportions in recent years. The mythical Northwest Passage, so far traversed by only a few polar scientists, could soon be permanently ice-free. The comprehensive travel log of the project lets the visitor experience the full impact global warming has on the lives of people and animals in the north polar region. Polar Sea 360 makes climate change visible and allows - impressively even with corresponding smartphone app and with VR goggles - viewers to see exactly how it is changing the earth.
