The soon-to-be-released film 2050 by renowned filmmakers Eric Goens and Kristoff Van Den Bergh financed by Syensqo has been shown in a few locations to much acclaim prior to its official release date of March 5th in cinemas across Belgium.
The soon-to-be-released film 2050 by renowned filmmakers Eric Goens and Kristoff Van Den Bergh financed by Syensqo has been shown in a few locations to much acclaim prior to its official release date of March 5th in cinemas across Belgium.
The highly anticipated documentary, which takes place primarily in Antarctica as well as Greenland, seamlessly weaves several narratives together focusing on the consequences of climate change and the first overwintering expedition in Antarctica led by Belgian explorer Adrien de Gerlache. The documentary features IPF founder Alain Hubert, Hélène de Gerlache de Gomery (granddaughter of Adrien de Gerlache), UC Irvine glaciologist Prof. Eric Rignot, the late Swiss glaciologist Dr. Konrad Steffen and his son IPF technician Simon Steffen, IPF mechanic Tim Grosrenaud, IPF systech engineers Nicolas Herinckx and Aymar de Lichtervelde, and several scientists who have spent time in Antarctica at the Princess Elisabeth station.
The filmmakers travel with Hélène de Gerlache de Gomery to the Antarctic Peninsula where she sails in the same waters first traversed in 1898 by her grandfather, Adrien de Gerlache, and which are today aptly called the Gerlache Strait. The audience is also taken along for a ride with IPF Founder Alain Hubert on a field expedition to support scientists, Prof Eric Rignot studying the consequences of a warming climate and ocean on the King Baudouin Ice Shelf, and with engineers as they do their daily job to run the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica, the world’s first and only zero-emission polar research station.
2050 was first shown to a large public audience on February 8th, the closing day of the Oostende Film Festival. 1,500 people came to see the film. It was chosen as one of the audience’s favourite films of the festival.
Next, MOS Vlaanderen, an educational organisation that integrates environmental stewardship into local school curricula, presented the film to teachers at two locations in Belgium: in Leuven on February 18th and in Ghent on February 19th. Each event was followed by a panel discussion with Eric Goens and scientists who had been to the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica to do research. At the event in Ghent, IPF Education and Outreach manager Mieke Sterken also joined the panel discussion.
And finally, the film’s official avant-premiere at Kinepolis in Antwerp on the evening of Thursday February 27th welcomed hundreds of people to the red-carpet event attended by ministers from the Belgian government and the Flemish Parliament, along with several Belgian scientists who have been to Antarctica, including Jean-Jacques Derwael, who took part in Belgian expeditions to Antarctica in the 1960s.
IPF Founder and BELARE expedition leader Alain Hubert, freshly arrived from Cape Town after finishing the 2024-25 research season in Antarctica, joined Hélène de Gerlache de Gomery, Simon Steffen and filmmakers Eric Goens and Kristoff Van Den Bergh on the red carpet before viewing the film. 2050 was screened in two different rooms in the cinema complex. After each screening the filmmakers and members of the cast answered questions about the film and their experiences working in Antarctica.
Filled with breathtakingly beautiful landscapes, 2050 shines a light on past and present science taking place in Antarctica and Greenland, and how changes in the polar regions have widespread implications for the rest of the planet. It’s certainly not a film to miss!
Watch the trailer here
Where to see the film in Belgium
