Encounters at the End of the World (2007) on Netflix
G20071h 39mDocumentary
At McMurdo Station in Antarctica, a filmmaker interviews the workers and scientists who have chosen to live on the ice. They include a glaciologist, volcanologists and a zoologist.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb7.7/1020,521 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes94%
Trailer
Plot summary
A filmmaker travels to Antarctica with a small crew and settles at McMurdo Station, a base where maintenance workers and scientists live and work. He interviews an iceberg geologist and a zoologist who supervises a seal camp, and joins a diving camp where a research diver films beneath the ice. A scientist who studies neutrinos, which are everywhere yet hard to catch, compares them to spirits. A cell biologist and a zoologist are interviewed at the station. The crew visits a cabin from Ernest Shackleton's expedition, kept as it was for close to a century, and Mount Erebus, an active volcano, where volcanologists explain eruptions and ice caves have been carved by fumaroles. A giant helium balloon is launched above the ice for a neutrino detection project.
Cast
- Scott Rowlandas Self - Transportation Dept.
- Stefan Pashovas Self - Philosopher, Forklift Driver
- Doug MacAyealas Self - Glaciologist (as Douglas MacAyeal)
- Ryan Andrew Evansas Self - Filmmaker, Cook (as Ryan A. Evans)
- Kevin Emeryas Self - Survival School Instructor
- Olav T. Oftedalas Self - Nutritional Ecologist
- Regina Eisertas Self - Physiologist
- David R. Pacheco Jr.as Self - Journeyman Plumber
- Samuel S. Bowseras Self - Cell Biologist
- Jan Pawlowskias Self - Zoologist
Show all 20 cast
- William Jirsaas Self - Linguist, Computer Expert
- Karen Joyceas Self - Traveler, Computer Expert
- Libor Zichaas Self - Utility Mechanic
- Ashrita Furmanas Self - Multiple World Record Holder
- David Ainleyas Self - Marine Ecologist
- William McIntoshas Self - Volcanologist, Geochronologist
- Peter Gorhamas Self - Physicist
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Encounters at the End of the World (2007)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- In early 2026 a scene went viral in which a penguin leaves the feeding and nesting grounds and heads alone toward a distant mountain while Herzog muses on its actions. On 23 January 2026 the United States Department of Homeland Security Twitter account posted a video featuring the penguin.
- The film is dedicated to American film critic Roger Ebert, a supporter and friend of Herzog who had recently lost the ability to speak in his protracted battle with cancer.
- The entire crew was two people: Herzog, who recorded all production sound, and cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger. The pair reached Antarctica with no chance to plan filming locations or interviews and had just seven weeks to conceive the project and shoot it.
- Herzog's grant from the Artists and Writers Program let him film without minders or oversight from the NSF, and that freedom is what allowed him and Zeitlinger to shoot the seal-bagging footage, which is not typically deemed suitable for public release.
- Herzog was drawn to Antarctica by underwater footage filmed there by Henry Kaiser, which he happened to notice Kaiser showing to a friend while Kaiser was working on the music for Herzog's Grizzly Man.
