Arctic Window (1985)

Filmed in the heart of Chicago, across the uninhabited Icelandic interior, and on the sea cliffs of volcanic Heimaey Island, the program provides a window to two lands and its people; one urban and American, the other, wild, wondrous, and inhabited by modern-day descendants of ancient Vikings, and to a delightful little bird that most of us would never get a chance to see. The film begins by tracking the expedition of the project's lead zoologist across the entire length of Iceland, taking in an amazing landscape of waterfalls, glaciers, hot springs and geysers and spending a day with a rural Icelandic family living on the country's north coast, only a few miles from the Arctic Circle. He then travels by ship to the only inhabited island in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago, located off of Iceland's south coast. Here, the zoologist is joined by a handful of colleagues, who set to work on the steep coastal bluffs to humanely capture and crate for air transport to the U.S. several dozen newly-born, downy puffins. The film then shifts to Chicago, where the birds are held in quarantine at a remote site while the final touches are being put on the new building and seabird habitat they will live in. Here we join the building's architect and engineer as they guide us through the unique design, construction, and layers of complex technology and machinery required to create in terrain, temperature, and lighting of an exacting replica of Iceland ideal for the North Atlantic puffin, but located in the heart of Chicago's cityscape. Finally, the film records the puffins' arrival, veterinary examinations, and climatic entry into their new home that, for nearly 4 million zoo visitors per year -- and on a busy day, more than 200 busloads of city school children -- will provide a "window to a world" they've only heard of or read about in textbooks.