Face to Face With the Polar Bear

SUMMARY: In a remote fjord in Spitzberg, filmmaker Jerome Bouvier spent a year following the incredible destiny of a polar bear family in a rapidly changing environment. The result is a universal and dramatic tale of survival. Casting brother and sister twin cubs, this tale focuses on their education and reveals their individual characters: while the warning period, the animals need to fend for themselves and adapt what they've leant to the ever-warmer summers. While the female tries in vain to hunt walruses, her brother successfully hunts for seals resting on drifting icebergs. Reducing her diet to easy-to-catch eider eggs and kelp, the she-bear can't sustain the energy requirements of her immense body. Growing thinner as rapidly as the glaciers, she fasts and finally meets a fatal end. Fortunately, her skilled brother reaches sexual maturity and migrates north to adapt to the changing conditions. CONTEXT: To film this intimate portrait of white giants, filmmaker Jerome Bouvier has circled around Spitzberg for a year with skidoos, buggies or sailing boats. He endured continuous blinding daylight in these viciously cold areas, with temperatures as low as minus 55 degrees Celsius and winds up to 30 miles per hour. The polar bear is the largest land carnivore and has the reputation of being the only animal that actively hunts humans. Polar bears are the most likely species to kill humans for food, as they assume anything they encounter is potential prey. Nevertheless, not much choice is given to the filmmaker: Jerome Bouvier and his guides had to venture into the intimacy of these starving giants, relying only on sounds and visual displays to scare off the ever-inquisitive beasts.