Film From the Edge of the World: How Antarctica Performed on the Big Screen

A journey across Antarctica through the camera lens.

Antarctica is a documentary about the 30th anniversary Ukrainian expedition to the Akademik Vernadsky station, and about researchers' lives in such a remote corner of the planet.

The film came out in early September 2025 and grossed over 7.2 million hryvnias in its first week in theaters. Anton Ptushkin served as both director and cinematographer, working on the project solo.

How the film performed on the big screen — read on in this brief DeTalks review.

First Steps

The trip to Antarctica has a clear mission — to relieve the team of researchers from the 29th expedition, who spent a year at the station. So first, we're introduced to the flagship of Ukraine's scientific research fleet, the icebreaker Noosfera. On the eve of the full-scale invasion, the flagship left the port of Odesa. By a stroke of luck, the crew missed the war entirely, which helped the ship continue its existence.

On its voyages, Noosfera can break through ice up to a meter thick and carries scientific equipment, food, and fuel supplies. Ptushkin shows the cabins, which can hold up to 50 people, the engine room, introduces the crew, and charts the ship's course.

The journey takes several days, and the hardest stretch is the Drake Passage, considered the roughest waters in the world due to powerful winds. Waves there can reach up to ten meters, so there's a kind of storm inside Noosfera too — loose items have to be tied down, and every door sealed tight.

Despite this, signs that they're approaching Antarctica finally appear — namely, icebergs the size of a ten-story building. Colliding with a mass like that is comparable to hitting a concrete slab, so every night, several crew members use the ship's searchlights to scan for ice chunks nearby. And later, the first penguins appear on floating ice islands.

The Challenges of Life at the Station

13 participants set out on the 30th anniversary expedition: eight scientists, a doctor, a cook, a system administrator, a systems mechanic, and an electrician. Living conditions at the station are harsh: constant cold, limited space, and no way to return home at a moment's notice — so mutual support has to be the rule.

Ivanna Koturbash, a doctor from the 29th expedition, described how important it is to have a range of skills to look after colleagues' health, saying you have to be able to do everything — from basic first aid to dental treatment in a dedicated dentist's office.

Nazarii Tsiupka, the cook on the previous 29th expedition, noted that he tried to vary the menu to help keep morale up.

Tsiupka has described a tradition from his expedition — that no matter the weather, or how much meat or frozen beets were on hand, they ate borscht every single Saturday, he shared.

Around the station live Antarctica's true masters — penguins, though visitors aren't allowed to get close or touch them, per the rules. Using drones, researchers count colony populations and observe the birds' behavior. Beyond these residents, whales also often swim near the coast, circling the station.

"Ukraine has now been in Antarctica for 30 years"

Ptushkin has said toward the end of the film that he thinks this mission isn't just about scientific discovery or training a new generation of Ukrainian scientists who have a research base here. It isn't just about politics and diplomacy, or bioresources and mineral deposits — it's also about something to be proud of, adding that despite the war, economic crises, and countless other obstacles, Ukraine has now been in Antarctica for 30 years.

The film vividly shows Ukrainian researchers' contribution to the global scientific community. At a time when Ukraine is associated worldwide with war, the film shows a country capable of working in one of the world's most remote corners for the sake of science.