#largest

sylviaj@joindiaspora.com
sylviaj@joindiaspora.com

‘Ice has a memory’ ~ an Inuit poem contemplates scientific exploration of Greenland

https://vimeo.com/539368995

' #Greenland is the #world’s #largest #island, a #sprawling #landmass covered by a notoriously #receding #ice #sheet. With a population of just 56,000, it’s also one of the #least #populated places on #Earth. The vast majority of these #Greenlanders are #Greenlandic #Inuit, with roots on the island stretching back centuries. Recent decades, however, have brought a new kind a visitor – #climate #scientists with #complex #devices for #drilling and #prodding the Earth. Setting up #temporary #camps that tend to leave #permanent #marks, they aim to peer into the deep past #preserved in the #ice, hoping that it will offer hints about the climate’s precarious #future.

An #impressionistic work of #nonfiction with #science-fiction influences, #Utuqaq (‘ice that lasts year after year’) juxtaposes images of a #scientific #expedition to Greenland’s ice sheet with a #poem about the visitors, narrated in #Kalaallisut, a variant of Greenlandic Inuit language, by #AviajaLyberth. As the filmmaker #IvaRadivojevic’s #otherworldly and often #beautiful #exploration unfolds, two distinct perspectives on the #stark #white #landscape slowly emerge. #climatechange #short #documentary #stunning #poetic #arctic #film