20th Philadelphia Film Festival – Race to the Bottom of the Earth

The only other documentary I saw during the festival other than “I am Carolyn Parker” was a Philly produced doc called Race to the Bottom of the Earth.  It features Philadelphia-based explorer, Todd Carmichael’s attempt to not only be the first American to solo trek the seven hundred miles across Antarctica to the South Pole, but to set the record for fastest trek at the same time.

Surprisingly compelling considering it’s basically one man talking into a video camera about frost bite, broken camping stoves, broken skies, whiteout conditions, and calling his wife each night with sometimes incoherent reports of the day.

Partly what keeps you hanging in there is the fact that Carmichael is very likable and rather sexy, in a non-traditional sense of the word. And just like the movies, Cast Away, 127 Hours and Buried , one person’s confined plight and strength of will to carry on, can really make for great storytelling.

On a side note: I didn’t know there was really a barbershop pole at the South Pole, I thought that was just made up for Santa Claus!

Unfortunately, Todd Carmichael wasn’t able to attend the Q & A after the screening. Producer Nancy Glass & filmmaker Michele Loschiavo answered the questions from the audience; allowing the Q & A to be about the filmmaking process of turning all that raw footage into a good, tense documentary.

Below is the video:

Congrats to everyone associated with “Race” in winning Greater Filmadelphia Award for Best Local Film.

For Tinsel & Tine readers receiving the RSS feed, here’s the link to the Race to the Bottom of the Earth Q &A on Tinseltine’s You Tube channel