Sergey Puskepalis lived not far from the filming location for 9 years. He said that this experience "let him merge with the landscape and people at once".
Shot in exactly three months.
Filmed over a period of three months. In all that time, the average temperature was just five degrees.
This was a long-held ambition of director Alexei Popogrebsky. Even as a child, he was fascinated by the concept of polar explorers living in complete isolation.
The two leads both shared the Best Actor prize at the 2010 Berlin Film Festival.