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Chasing Ice

  • 20122012
  • PG-13PG-13
  • 1h 15m
IMDb RATING
7.7/10
8.6K
YOUR RATING
Chasing Ice (2012)
Follow National Geographic photographer James Balog across the Arctic as he deploys time-lapse cameras designed for one purpose: to capture a multi-year record of the world's changing glaciers.
Play trailer2:14
1 Video
10 Photos
  • Documentary
  • Biography
Follow National Geographic photographer James Balog across the Arctic as he deploys time-lapse cameras designed for one purpose: to capture a multi-year record of the world's changing glacie... Read allFollow National Geographic photographer James Balog across the Arctic as he deploys time-lapse cameras designed for one purpose: to capture a multi-year record of the world's changing glaciers.Follow National Geographic photographer James Balog across the Arctic as he deploys time-lapse cameras designed for one purpose: to capture a multi-year record of the world's changing glaciers.
IMDb RATING
7.7/10
8.6K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Jeff Orlowski-Yang
  • Writer
    • Mark Monroe
  • Stars
    • James Balog
    • Svavar Jónatansson
    • Louie Psihoyos
Top credits
  • Director
    • Jeff Orlowski-Yang
  • Writer
    • Mark Monroe
  • Stars
    • James Balog
    • Svavar Jónatansson
    • Louie Psihoyos
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 41User reviews
    • 74Critic reviews
    • 75Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 1 Oscar
      • 9 wins & 5 nominations total

    Videos1

    Theatrical Version
    Trailer 2:14
    Theatrical Version

    Photos10

    Chasing Ice (2012)
    James Balog in Chasing Ice (2012)
    Jeff Orlowski-Yang and James Balog in Chasing Ice (2012)
    Chasing Ice (2012)
    Chasing Ice (2012)
    Jeff Orlowski-Yang in Chasing Ice (2012)
    Chasing Ice (2012)
    Chasing Ice (2012)
    Chasing Ice (2012)

    Top cast

    Edit
    James Balog
    James Balog
    • Self - Photographeras Self - Photographer
    Svavar Jónatansson
    • Self - Photo Assistantas Self - Photo Assistant
    Louie Psihoyos
    Louie Psihoyos
    • Self - Photographer & Oscar Winning Filmmakeras Self - Photographer & Oscar Winning Filmmaker
    Kitty Boone
    • Self - The Aspen Instituteas Self - The Aspen Institute
    Sylvia Earle
    Sylvia Earle
    • Self - National Geographic Exploreras Self - National Geographic Explorer
    • (as Sylvia Earle Ph.D.)
    Dennis Dimick
    • Self - National Geographic Editoras Self - National Geographic Editor
    Adam LeWinter
    • Self - EIS Engineeras Self - EIS Engineer
    • (as Adam Lewinter)
    Jason Box
    • Self - Climatologist, Ohio State Universityas Self - Climatologist, Ohio State University
    • (as Jason Box Ph.D.)
    Tad Pfeffer
    • Self - Glaciologist, University of Coloradoas Self - Glaciologist, University of Colorado
    • (as Tad Pfeffer Ph.D.)
    Suzanne Balog
    • Self - James's Wifeas Self - James's Wife
    Jeff Orlowski-Yang
    Jeff Orlowski-Yang
    • Self - EIS Videographeras Self - EIS Videographer
    • (as Jeff Orlowski)
    Synte Peacock
    Synte Peacock
    • Self - Oceanographer, National Center for Atmospheric Researchas Self - Oceanographer, National Center for Atmospheric Research
    • (as Synte Peacock Ph.D.)
    Terry Root
    • Self - Senior Fellow, Stanford University Woods Instituteas Self - Senior Fellow, Stanford University Woods Institute
    • (as Terry Root Ph.D.)
    Thomas Swetnam
    • Self - Directof of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizonaas Self - Directof of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona
    • (as Thomas Swetnam Ph.D.)
    Peter Hoeppe
    • Self - Head of Geo Risks Research, Munich Reinsuranceas Self - Head of Geo Risks Research, Munich Reinsurance
    • (as Peter Hoeppe Ph.D.)
    Gerald Meehl
    • Self - Senior Scientist, National Center for Atmospheric Researchas Self - Senior Scientist, National Center for Atmospheric Research
    • (as Gerald Meehl Ph.D.)
    Emily Balog
    • Self - James's Daughteras Self - James's Daughter
    Martin Nørregaard
    • Self - Pilotas Self - Pilot
    • Director
      • Jeff Orlowski-Yang
    • Writer
      • Mark Monroe
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Quotes

      James Balog - Photographer: If you had an abscess in your tooth, would you keep going to dentist after dentist until you found a dentist who said, "Ah, don't worry about it. Leave that rotten tooth in"? Or would you pull it out because more of the other dentists told you you had a problem? That's sort of what we're doing with climate change.

    • Connections
      Featured in Moyers & Company: Justice, Not Politics (2012)
    • Soundtracks
      Before My Time
      Music and Lyrics by J. Ralph

      Produced, Arranged, Engineered and Mixed by J. Ralph

      Co-produced and Engineered by Arthur Pingrey

      Protools by Arthur Pingrey

      Performed by Scarlett Johansson and Joshua Bell

      Piano by Jay Israelson

      Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering

      Legal by Alan Kress

      Recorded at The Theater, New York City, January 2012 and March 2012

      Special Thanks to Danny Bensi, Camilla Olson, Heidi Frederick and Alan Kress

      Joshua Bell appears courtesy of Sony Classical

    User reviews41

    Review
    Top review
    7/10
    A Beautifully Photographed Film which is more Emotional than Scientific
    I enjoyed seeing Chasing Ice on the opening night of Austin's SXSW Film Festival, but I was also a bit disappointed by it. The film only partly delivers on its great promise, because it can't quite figure out whether it's a national geographic-style nature documentary, a personal adventure story or an environmental advocacy film. In the end, it tries to do all of these things and doesn't quite do any of them as well as it could. Chasing Ice is at its best when it documents Extreme Ice Survey's (EIS) beautiful photography of the melting glaciers perhaps better than anyone has done before. While the photography delivers an emotional punch it can't really speak for itself. The scientific evidence requires a lot more explanation than they provide. The film starts out with clips of talking heads criticizing climate change, but they never fully answer the criticism and never fully defend the case that climate change is man-made, dangerous, and in need of an immediate global action to remedy. Nor do they provide any particular direction for what the viewer can do either personally or politically to address the problem.

    Instead they spend way too much telling their own story. They delve into the technical difficulties of mounting cameras to photograph distant glaciers over a period of years, the complexities of hiking to these locations, the personal danger and discomfort they had to endure, and most peculiarly the physical problems that lead photographer James Balog experienced with his knee problems and surgeries. All these personal stories are interesting to a point, but distract from scientific case that they need to make. This should be a scientific and environmental story not a personal narrative. The powerful case that the beautiful photography makes is undermined, by poorly conceived film narrative. The average viewer needs a lot better understanding of what the melting of the glaciers means and what sort of affect this will have on their daily life in the near future. A better narrative device might have been to show the melting ice of the glaciers and then film the rising sea level in other parts of the world. Some reports have suggested that the Maldives Islands might soon be underwater. Showing where the water from the melting glaciers is ending up could have proved to be a much more powerful narrative device. I wish they had done a better job at telling an important scientific story with deep political and moral significance for the planet.

    During the Q&A after the film, Balog argued that this isn't a political problem, that it is a universal problem. It may be a universal problem, but its solution requires collective political action that is based on science not emotion. They are naive if they are unwilling to engage the powerful political debate that is preventing progress on this issue.
    helpful•27
    17
    • JustCuriosity
    • Mar 9, 2012

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • December 14, 2012 (United Kingdom)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official sites
      • Official Facebook
      • Official site
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • 逐冰之旅
    • Filming locations
      • Bolivia
    • Production companies
      • Exposure
      • Diamond Docs
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $1,328,467
    • Gross worldwide
      • $1,358,668
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 15 minutes
    • Color
      • Color

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