New to RNZ Video: Mighty Indeed
Released at 11:40 am on 23 April 2026
Photo: RNZ
In one of the harshest places on Earth, three women from different generations chase a hidden and fleeting world beneath the Antarctic sea ice. In the award-winning documentary*, Dr Natalie Robinson leads an expedition to McMurdo Sound, joined by PhD student and microbiologist Jacqui Stuart on her first trip south. Mentoring them from afar is veteran sea ice physicist Professor Pat Langhorne. Battling brutal weather and isolation, the team discovers extraordinary tiny creatures within the delicate structures of the ice. Weaving personal stories with groundbreaking science, this is an intimate and deeply human portrait of life set against the immense scale of Antarctica, told with grit, wit, and warmth.
Producer & director Vanessa Wells says from an artistic perspective she is fascinated by what drives others in extreme environments.
“I’m intrigued by human/non-human interactions and drawn to those who challenge preconceptions of what a scientist or explorer should be.”
Stream Mighty Indeed from Tuesday 28 April on rnz.co.nz/video. Produced by Polarella Films & Elanti Media. Mighty Indeed was produced with support from RNZ, the New Zealand Film Commission, ChristchurchNZ, Antarctica NZ, the Antarctic Science Platform, NIWA, & Earth Sea Sky.
*Best New Zealand Feature & Best New Zealand Director, Doc Edge Film Festival 2025.
Watch trailer
Featuring
Professor Emerita Pat Langhorne
Pat Langhorne is one of New Zealand’s most respected Antarctic scientists and a world authority on sea ice. Originally from Scotland, she gained her PhD at the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge, before moving to the University of Otago in 1988. Over the course of her career she has led or taken part in more than 25 research expeditions to Antarctica, investigating how sea ice forms, fractures, and interacts with the changing climate. Pat’s pioneering work has shaped global understanding of the Ross Sea region, and she has been a key figure in national and international collaborations, including the Deep South National Science Challenge. In recognition of her outstanding contribution to Antarctic science, she was awarded the New Zealand Antarctic Medal in 2019. Now an Emerita Professor at Otago, she continues to advise and inspire the next generation of polar scientists.
Associate Professor Natalie Robinson
Dr Robinson is the Director of New Zealand’s Antarctic Science Platform, and a marine physicist based at Earth Sciences NZ (previously known as NIWA) and Victoria University of Wellington. Her work specialises in polar oceanography, exploring how ice shelves and sea ice interact—particularly through phenomena like “platelet ice,” ice‐ocean supercooling, roughness at the ice‐ocean interface, and buoyancy‐driven convection. Natalie earned a PhD from the University of Otago under the supervision of Prof. Pat Langhorne, and has led multiple field campaigns in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. She has received Marsden grants (2015, 2023) for her leading research and is committed to both scientific rigour and making her findings accessible to broader audiences via outreach and public communication.
Dr Jacqui Stuart
Dr Stuart is a marine biologist and ecologist affiliated with the Antarctic Research Centre at Victoria University of Wellington (and previously Cawthron Institute), whose pioneering PhD work focuses on microalgae in Antarctica. Her research examines the diversity, ecology, and molecular responses of microalgal communities in and beneath sea ice, and how changes in climate stressors—light, sea ice depth, and environmental nutrients—may alter these foundational ecosystems. In 2021 she was awarded the Sir Robin Irvine Doctoral Scholarship by Antarctica New Zealand to support her Antarctic research. Jacqui also contributes enthusiastically to science communication, field expeditions, and is driven by her passion for the microscopic world that underpins Antarctic marine ecosystems.
ENDS