‘Time And Water’ Filmmakers Explore Iceland’s Melting Glaciers

Drill an ice core into an Icelandic glacier and the frozen cylinder will tell the history of the Nordic land going back millennia – volcanic eruptions deposited as peppery flecks, air bubbles trapping ancient atmospheric data.

But what happens when those glaciers melt? Does history itself dissolve? These are some of the elemental questions raised by the National Geographic documentary Time and Water, directed by Oscar nominee Sara Dosa (Fire of Love). A screening of the award-winning film Tuesday night kicked off Deadline’s annual For the Love of Docs virtual series, a showcase of films in awards contention (films in the series are presented free of charge to the filmmakers and audiences, through the generous support of National Geographic).

Dosa and two of her producers, Elijah Stevens and Jameka Autry, took part in a conversation after the screening. Stevens spoke of the majesty of the environment explored in the film.

“It’s just a truly incredible, incredible landscape to be in, to be out on the glacier, to be in the glacier,” Stevens said. “We got to experience going into ice caves surrounded by that gorgeous blue ice that you see in the film, to see the specks of volcanic sediment and the air bubbles running through that ice that has gotten blue through that compaction over time. And there is just truly nothing like that experience.”

It’s an experience that is vanishing before everyone’s eyes. All of Iceland’s glaciers are expected to disappear within the next 150 to 200 years, shrunken by climate change. Already, one of them has been officially declared dead after losing so much mass that it could no longer move under its own weight – a signature of glaciers. Time and Water is largely built around the work of Icelandic author Andri Snær Magnason, who was tasked with writing an obituary for that moribund OK (Okjökull) glacier.

Magnason’s words, inscribed in a copper plaque affixed to a boulder formerly covered by OK’s ice, is addressed to future generations, who will cope with our present-day action or inaction on the climate crisis. It reads in part, “This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it.”

That message is mirrored in the film itself, which explores Iceland’s glacial terrain as well as the personal history of Magnason and his family, including his grandparents Hulda and Árni who were founding members of the Icelandic Glaciological Society, a group formed back when no one imagined the ice could melt away.

“We’re intentionally trying to make the film feel like a time capsule into the future and yet hoping that the audience of today will feel an intimate sense of a relationship there. But by presenting a world where glaciers do still exist, that was really kind of our hope to show, yes, this is a story about the death of a glacier, but it’s also very powerfully a story about life,” Dosa explained. “So, in this time capsule… here’s a set of glaciers, a glacial ecology full of life-giving water, of time frozen inside the glacial ice, of cultural memories, of mythology, of stories, as well as a beautiful life lived of Andri’s grandparents… We’re trying to package this human-glacial-ecological relationship inside the time capsule of the film, hoping that that can inspire so both audiences in the moment as well as the speculative recipients of this time capsule film can feel that sense of love and sentience of a landscape that is not yet gone and hopefully will not fully be gone despite the dire warnings we’re receiving.”

“I think the effects of climate change are something that will impact all of us,” producer Jameka Autry noted. “And Iceland is really just the tip of the iceberg. It’s one of the things that has captured our attention because it’s visual and we can actually see the glaciers melting. But I really liken this story to something that everyone can relate to… Climate change will impact all of us. It’s just a matter of when. And even the impacts that are happening in Iceland right now are being felt across the world and so, hopefully if you aren’t paying attention, this film will wake you up a little bit and really encourage you to get involved in creating some positive change.”

Watch the full conversation in the video above.

For The Love of Docs is produced with the long-time support of National Geographic Documentary Films. The series continues with weekly screenings, followed by conversations with filmmakers through December 1. Join us next week for Ghost in the Machine, a fascinating documentary directed by Valerie Veatch that exposes the disturbing history of artificial intelligence, and its roots in eugenics. To RSVP for the screening, click here.