ONE thousand men and women live together under unbelievably close quarters in Antarctica, risking their lives and sanity in search of cutting-edge science.

Now, for the first time, an outsider has been admitted.

In his first documentary since the brilliant Grizzly Man, Werner Herzog travelled to Antarctica and gained rare access to the raw beauty and humanity of the area.

He meets the men and women who have dedicated their lives to furthering the cause of science in extreme conditions.

A scientist studies neutrinos, which are everywhere, yet elusive; he likens them to spirits. A researcher’s nocturnal performance art includes contorting her body into a luggage bag.

A survival guide teaches his students to survive white-out conditions by wearing cartoon-face buckets over their heads.

Animal researchers milk mother seals as part of their study and volcanologists offer advice on what to do when a volcano erupts.

A pipefitter shows us the anomaly in his hands that he says are a sign he descended from Atzec royalty. A former Colorado banker drives what he has christened Ivan the Terra Bus.

An underwater diver shows his colleagues DVDs of apocalyptic sci-fi films like Them! and a penguin researcher answers the filmmaker’s questions about homosexuality and insanity in his subjects.

Herzog also encounters an individualist penguin who breaks away from the other birds to run toward the mountains – facing certain death.

Showing at: Lighthouse