Society of The Snow

One of Australia's greatest photojournalists goes on a riveting first-hand journey through an Afghanistan never seen on the news. For almost 50 years, activist artist George Gittoes has stood on the frontlines of the world's most brutal conflicts and borne witness to the best and worst of humanity. Now living in Afghanistan's remote, Taliban-ruled Jalalabad province, Gittoes turns his attention to the lives of the children and outcasts of this war-torn land.

When she was a child, Kate Humble wanted to be a nomad. Living in some of the world's most remote wildernesses, cheek by jowl with nature, seemed like such a wildly romantic existence.

Extraordinary wildlife, landscapes and people - Arabia is a land of magic and surprise.

A smokestack stubbornly pierces the sky. Trains rumble by down below. Lights come on in the buildings as night falls. There is a man behind the camera, looking for an image – of himself? Of the world? Of society? By day and night, in rain and snow, he stands filming at the window of his studio. Periodically we hear people leaving messages on his answering machine. They talk about the weather while on vacation and congratulate him on his birthday. His father dies, a child is born, the young family begins to fall apart. Time passes. Slowly the cityscape morphs into the inner landscape of the man behind the camera.

Reclusive veteran Frank Olsen yearns to escape from the complexities of the modern world.