SXSW Film

Chasing Ice

   Global warming tends to be a downer, no matter the medium. But if there's any such thing as the "right" way to deliver the message about climate change – a transcendent way, even – this is it. "The story," as photographer James Balog puts it, is definitely "in the ice." Director Jeff Orlowski follows Balog and his small crew through the craggy, arctic treacheries of Alaska, Iceland, and Greenland as they risk their lives to record the drastically changing faces of the world's most stunning – but nonetheless receding – glaciers. It doesn't always go well. They install dozens of time-lapse cameras specially engineered to withstand the world's harshest weather conditions, but they break all the same. Balog's bum knee threatens to retire him from his own project. But nearly four years later – knee surgeries and camera re-engineering behind them – the results are heart-in-your-throat breathtaking. Trust us: You want to watch this film on the big screen.

Friday, March 16, 4pm, Vimeo