Documentaries 50/60

BJORN AND YFAUT, POLAR DOGS

Mario MARRET
1955
Version : French
Duration : 18'
Format : 35 mm., 16 mm., Béta Digit. - Digital file 8 bit 4.2.2 - DCP
Black & white
Scriptwriter : Mario MARRET
Producer : ARMOR Films - Fred ORAIN
Country France
Music LOUIGUY
Picture Mario MARRET
Stage set Antarctica, Cantal region
Prize list Sélectionné à la XVII° Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematographica - Mostra de Documentario et de Cortometraggio - Venise - 1956
Archive footage - Unloading an Eskimo dog by crane,
- Dogs and men in Antarctica,
- Play between a dog and an emperor penguin,
- Men in dog sleds, Falling in a sled
- Eskimo puppies suckled by their mother,
- Post-natal scenes on a farm (bathing, umbilical cord, swaddling, weighing)
- Three auscultations on a farm (peasant, baby, young man),
- Man and dog climbing a snow-covered hill,
- Sled at night with a sick man,
- Surgery in the operating theatre.

Original title : Bjorn et Yfaut, chiens polaires

In 1949, the ship “Commandant Charcot” had on board, in addition to the members of the French Antarctic Expedition, thirty Eskimo dogs who shared the life of the men for three years in Terre Adélie. These dogs were more than just companions for the explorers, as their safety sometimes depended on their strength and tenacity. In 1952, the explorers learnt that there would be no relief for lack of funds. What was to become of the dogs? Slaughtering them, as Paris proposed, was out of the question. They appealed to the press to adopt the animals. There were over 3,000 responses. Four years later, we meet up with Björn, born on board the “Charcot”, and Yfaut. They belong to a doctor practising in the Cantal region of France, and make it easier for him to visit his patients in the snowy winter months. Thanks to them, he can reach isolated farms where his jeep cannot.