Museum events

Crossing Antarctica

Free online talk as part of Open Cambridge

How do you cross a continent made of ice?

Join the Scott Polar Research Institute's archivists through this online film as they discuss the planning, provisions and progress of an adventure from the 1950s era of exploration. Find out about Cambridge resident Vivian 'Bunny' Fuchs, the first person to cross the icy continent of Antarctica in the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition.

Talk lasts 10 minutes and can be watched any time from Friday 10 September.

Family Friendly Opening

Saturday 23 October, 10am - 4pm

Join us at the Polar Museum for our Family Friendly Opening Day this half-term. Timed, bookable tickets available specifically for children and their carers. There will be sanitised object handling, museum trails and there will also be some short films and science demonstrations running in our lecture theatre at points throughout the day.

Tickets will be available to book from Thursday 14 October at 10am

Love Stories for the Earth

Monday 25 October, 10.30am- 11.30am & 11.45am - 12.45pm

Join us at the Polar Museum with renowned storyteller Marion Leeper to explore life under water, with a story from the far North about The Mended Seal.

17 stories, each one launched in a different place. Love Stories for the Earth will lure children away from screens and into nature, asking questions and having adventures.

Expect rocks and shells, an undersea palace, and a story about give and take between the people that row on the sea and the creatures that live underneath.

For ages 10 and under. Parents/carers must be present.

Tickets for this will be available from 8am on Monday 11 October

Native Spirit Film Festival

Join us for the Polar Museum's part of the Native Spirit Film Festival, the UK's first and only annual independent festival promoting Native Filmmakers, Media, Artists, Indigenous languages and narrative sovereignty. Supported by Film in Greenland.

Greenlandic Inuit Films

Saturday 6 November, 10.30am- 11.30am & 2pm - 3pm

A guest film programme of shorts curated by award-winning Greenlandic filmmaker Inuk Jørgensen on the themes of Storytelling & Life including a 30 minute recorded discussion with the filmmakers. The programme will repeat in morning and the afternoon. There will be Arctic object handling sessions in the museum throughout the day.

Free to attend. Tickets include entrance to the Polar Museum after the film showing but not before due to the museum's capacity.

Snow (8 min) 2017 – Nivi Pedersen

Shovelling snow in the capital of Greenland is a big part of everyday life during winter. In this short documentary we are exploring how living in these conditions affect the culture, through the lives of three people with each their big and small bumps on their roads of dealing with neighbours, issues with shovelling equipment and caring for one another.

Naja (5 min) 2020 – Marc Fussing Rosbach

Description: Naja is a fantasy short film that tells a young girls death and her journey through shock and grief. After a traumatic experience Naja ran away from home, as she runs away from the reality that she couldn't accept. As she ran her ancestors follow her through the northern lights. She meets two small Spirits that wanted to help her move on to the other world (silap aappaa). She couldn't move on until she accepts her death.

Half & Half (3 min) 2014 – Aka Hansen

Growing up between Denmark and Greenland, Nuuk-based Aka Hansen cannot remember a time that she did not want to have a camera in her hand, and she has since become a trailblazing member of the country's new generation of emerging filmmakers.

Home (7 min) 2018 – Inuk Jørgensen

A personal perspective on coming home after nearly a decade abroad and finding that something is off in the familiar paradise. A warning that profound change is coming. Change that will influence future generations.

In Conversation with Inuit Filmmakers – 30 mins : Join us at the Polar Museum for our part of the Native Spirit Film Festival with conversation between filmmakers, touching on Greenlandic culture and Narrative Sovereignty, with inserts of filmed drum dance.

Free tickets available to book from 20 October 2021

Native Spirit Film Festival

Join us for the Polar Museum's part of the Native Spirit Film Festival, the UK's first and only annual independent festival promoting Native Filmmakers, Media, Artists, Indigenous languages and narrative sovereignty.

Celebrating Inuk Film on International Inuit Day – Online Film Programme

Sunday 7 November

Celebrating 2021 International Inuit Day, Native Spirit Festival, in partnership with The Polar Museum and Inuk filmmaker & actor, Vinnie Karetak present shorts and animations from Nunavut bringing stories of Inuit survivance in the Arctic and tales of supernatural and horror. Supported by the High Commission of Canada in the UK.

GIANT BEAR ᓇᓄᕐᓗᒃ (2018, 12min) dir. Neil Christopher, Daniel Gies

A timeless Inuit legend about a solitary man, a giant bear and their daunting foes: each other.

Centered on a confrontation between the last monster bear and an Inuit hunter, Giant Bear is a chilling short that brings an ancient story out of the North.

GNAWER OF ROCKS (2020, 13min) dir. Andrea Flaherty

Two young women are trapped in the lair of the Mangittatuarjuk, the Gnawer of Rocks. The young women and their village use the teachings of the elders to try to defeat the monster.

MAHAHA (2020, 12min) dir. Babah Kalluk

When Aulaja's father is off hunting she ignores his reminder to be cautious. Aulaja leaves her protective sled dog Siku behind to go fishing and she is attacked by an ancient land spirit. If she hopes to survive, a sacrifice will need to be made.

HAUNTED BLIZZARD (2020, 11min) dir. Aviaq Johnston

A teenage girl walks home in a burgeoning blizzard, happy to have an unexpected snow day. Ignoring an Elder's warning about the terror the blizzard holds, she finds herself alone in her home with an unseen presence stalking and tormenting her.

THE BOYS (2020, 8 min) dir. Vinnie Karetak

How can we ever know how someone keeps going after a tragedy? That question is in the loving broken heart of this film. Follow this ever brief conversation that is deeper then the actual words between the two woman and their families. set with the landscape of Iqaluit, a conversation at the airport's baggage carousel and a woman's slow drive home all tell the story in this gentle searing story of grief.

Book tickets to this programme of films from the Native Spirit Film Festival website. A bargain ticket of all for just $7 for 72 hours. Find out more about other screenings in the online festival.