At TIFF Lounge, beginning with 12:30 you can attend a discussion on the famous expedition of the ship Belgica, the first to spend the winter in Antarctica.
PREMIERE. The documentary The Explorer presents the life and research of Emil Racovita, one of the first Antarctic explorers, a pioneer of oceanology and the founder of a new science, the bio-speleology. He created in Cluj the first Institute of Speleology in the world.
Using photographs made by Emil Racovita in Antarctica, the film focuses mainly on the Belgica expedition (1897-1899), the first scientific expedition who wintered in Antarctica, having Roald Amundsen, Frederick Cook on board and Adrien de Gerlache as captain.
Accompanying the screening of the documentary, TIFF has also scheduled a special event with:
3D screening of the stereoscopic photos made by Emil Racoviță in Antarctica, a “Belgica” mini-exhibition of “Stefan cel Mare” Museum, Vaslui, a photo exhibition by Helmut Ignat, “Antarctica –
Beyond the end of the world”, capturing also the shootings in Antarctica, a short animation film based on Emil Racovitza’s drawings.
The project is supported by AFCN – The Administration of the National Cultural Fund.
The Explorer
A film by: Titus Muntean, Xantus Gabor
2013, 70 min., Romanian with English or French subtitles
Produced by: Fundatia Arte Vizuale
Supported by: National Film Centre. SRTV - Romanian Television
Financed by: The Media Partnership, Fundatia Arte Vizuale
Coproduced by: Terra Incognita
EMIL RACOVIȚĂ
Emil Racoviţă was born in Iaşi to the Racoviţă family of Moldavian boyars, whose ancestors had ascended the throne of the country. Racoviţă spent his childhood at the family estate, in Sorăneşti, Vaslui County. He started his education in Iaşi, where he had Ion Creangă, a renowned Romanian writer, as a teacher, then Grigore Cobalcescu, a renowned geologsit, as a professor at “Institutele Unite” high school.
After passing his baccalauréat in 1886, he studied law at the Sorbonne, in Paris. But he did not pursue a law career, turning towards the natural sciences. After obtaining his Ph.D. degree in 1896, Racoviţă was selected to be part of the international scientific team of the Belgica, a research expedition to Antarctica under the command of Adrien de Gerlache.
The Romanian naturalist brought back a huge volume of biological material and published a monography on the life of whales, that won him the appreciation of the scientific community. A year after his return, Racoviţă was appointed deputy director of the Banyuls-sur-Mer Ocenological Institute. A discovery in the Cave of the Dragon, Mallorca, in 1902, was a breakthrough in his career, centered aterwards on the research of life in caves.
Racovitza explored over 1,400 caves in France, Spain, Algeria, Italy, and Slovenia and he is considered to be, together with René Jeannel, one of the founders of the biospeleology. In 1919, Racoviţă became head of the Biology Department at University of Cluj and founded the world’s first Speleological Institute there. He became a member of the Romanian Academy, which
he presided from 1926 to 1929. Emil Racovitza remains a major figure of scientific life in Romania.
