It is the “Latitude 90˚” INCAA Space (INCAA is the Spanish acronym for National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts), located at the Carlini Base. Its reopening was possible thanks to the joint effort of the Foreign Ministry and the Ministries of Culture and Defense of the Nation.
With the projection of Argentine Antarctic film productions shot during the 20th century, on August 22, the Bicentennial Hall of the “Latitude 90˚” INCAA Space was reopened at the Carlini Base, the only movie theater in Antarctica.
By videoconference, the Minister of Culture of the Nation, Tristán Bauer, together with the Secretary of the Malvinas, Antarctica and the South Atlantic of the Foreign Ministry, Daniel Filmus, and the Secretary of International Affairs for Defense of the Ministry of Defense, Francisco Cafiero. This is the only movie theater enabled to operate in the country, since the white continent, under strict protocols, is a coronavirus-free zone.
During the event, organized by the Argentine Antarctic Institute, the authorities officially opened the Bicentennial Hall, inaugurated in 2005 and abandoned in 2018.
This year the “Latitude 90˚” INCAA Space joined the 14th Ushuaia International Mountain Film Festival (FICMUS in the Spanish acronym). In this framework, the following films were projected: “Argentine Sovereignty in Antarctica” (1947), “The White Homeland” (1973), “Antarctic Icebreaker ARA Almirante Irizar” (1979) and “March to the southern limit of the Homeland” (1969) , productions that are part of our memory recovered by the Argentine Antarctic Institute and the Museum of Cinema of Buenos Aires. Later the films will be available on the websites of both institutions.
“Culture is another way to reaffirm Argentine sovereignty in Antarctica. Apart from thanking for the work you carry out there, I want to recognize the cameramen and film directors who were in the white continent to record the history of exemplary men and women. Now the young and the new generations are going to reflect the present and the future of Antarctica”, said Tristán Bauer.
For his part, Daniel Filmus considered that “it is very exciting to see the result of the enormous work they did to recover the room, which adds to the scientific research task that you carry out every day in Antarctica, something that makes us feel proud because it has to do with sovereignty, but also with the future of the country and of humanity”.
According to Francisco Cafiero, “the articulation of the work of the Foreign Ministry and the Ministries of Culture and Defense in the reopening of this movie theater is what we need so that culture and sovereignty go hand in hand. We are going through extraordinary moments and in the face of such adversity we are united without abandoning our jobs in the Antarctic continent”.
The event was also attended by the Director of the Argentine Antarctic Institute, Walter Mac Cormack; the National Director of the Antarctic, Patricia Ortúzar; the head of the Carlini Base, Major Gustavo Sánchez, and the wintering scientific chief, Jazmín Fogel.
