Exactly five years ago this week, my husband and I were on our honeymoon near the picturesque Ilulissat glacier on the west coast of Greenland. Around the same time and place, National Geographic photographer James Balog and his intrepid band of technicians and climatologists were sculpting this brute of a nature documentary, CHASING ICE.

The film follows the trials and tribulations of the Extreme Ice Survey while they set up and troubleshoot dozens of remote time-lapse cameras in order to monitor the retreat of several major glaciers. While the focus remains perhaps too much on the charismatic and obviously passionate Balog, the audience is rewarded with a series of stunning images as he presents the team’s findings at various conferences, including the climate change summit in Copenhagen. This is one nature documentary that doesn’t – well, very rarely does – feature pictures of cute animals, and given the implications of the dramatic footage could perhaps be considered a horror film instead. One memorable segment shows a chunk of ice the size of Lower Manhattan breaking off the Ilulissat glacier, and the accompanying rumble made the seats in the cinema vibrate. If it weren’t for the conservation issues, I’d encourage everyone to go and view such glorious ice vistas in person (while they’re still there). But surely watching the chilling CHASING ICE in the vast sound-enhanced Screen One of the Cambridge Arts Picturehouse is the next best thing.

Read our interview with Jeff Orlowski here.

httpvh://youtu.be/eIZTMVNBjc4