Chasing Ice
| Year | 2012 |
| Starring | Adam LeWinter, James Balog, Jeff Orlowski, Kitty Boone, Louie Psihoyos, Svavar Jonatansson |
| Director(s) | Jeff Orlowski |
| Rating | PG-13 |
| Genre(s) | Biography, Documentary |
| Runtime | 80 min |
| Producer(s) | Billy Ray, David J. Cornfield, James Billmaier, Jeff Orlowski, Jerry Aronson, Linda A. Cornfield, Paula DuPre Pesmen, Stacy Sherman |
| Editor(s) | Davis Coombe |
| Writer(s) | Mark Monroe |
In the spring of 2005, acclaimed environmental photographer James Balog headed to the Arctic on a tricky assignment for National Geographic: to capture images to help tell the story of the Earth’s changing climate. Even with a scientific upbringing, Balog had been a skeptic about climate change. But that first trip north opened his eyes to the biggest story in human history and sparked a challenge within him that would put his career and his very well-being at risk.
Chasing Ice is the story of one man’s mission to change the tide of history by gathering undeniable evidence of our changing planet. Within months of that first trip to Iceland, the photographer conceived the boldest expedition of his life: The Extreme Ice Survey. With a band of young adventurers in tow, Balog began deploying revolutionary time-lapse cameras across the brutal Arctic to capture a multi-year record of the world’s changing glaciers.
As the debate polarizes America and the intensity of natural disasters ramps up globally, Balog finds himself at the end of his tether. Battling untested technology in subzero conditions, he comes face to face with his own mortality. It takes years for Balog to see the fruits of his labor. His hauntingly beautiful videos compress years into seconds and capture ancient mountains of ice in motion as they disappear at a breathtaking rate. Chasing Ice depicts a photographer trying to deliver evidence and hope to our carbon-powered planet.
The word that the Truly Moving Picture Award jury kept using was “beautiful.” Chasing Ice is an educational story and an inspiring tale, but it also serves as a distinctive look towards a natural phenomenon that isn’t often photographed. Some of the jury wanted to learn more about what is causing the ice to break apart like this and the research going into preventing such measures. The story of Balog intrigued many jury members as well by seeing the struggles he took in order to achieve the best shot.