Screening of "Chasing Ice" documentary

Pacifica’s Environmental Family to Host a Screening of Award Winning Documentary, Chasing Ice on

Friday, June 7th at Mildred Owen Concert Hall


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.

Some of you may remember hearing about Chasing Ice when it appeared briefly in Bay Area theaters for a few weeks last November, 2012. As with most documentaries – even great ones like this one – it didn’t stick around for too long, so many people missed it. Just about everyone who has seen it, though, can’t say enough good things about the film. It’s not uncommon to hear words like “powerful”, “breath-taking”, “life-changing”, “beautiful” and “awesome” to describe this movie, which has won over 30 awards over the past year.

Intrigued by this film’s buzz, Pacifica’s Environmental Family contacted the filmmakers and received permission to host the “Pacifica premiere” of Chasing Ice on Friday evening, June 7th at 7:30pm in the Mildred Owen Concert Hall, 1220 Linda Mar Blvd. in Pacifica for those of you that enjoy movies of this type but missed it when it was in local theaters last Fall. A sliding scale donation of $10 to $20 will be requested at the door. Come join us for this amazing film. All net proceeds will support Pacifica’s Environmental Family, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit that provides fiscal sponsorship services to the Pacifica Beach Coalition, Pacifica Gardens, Vallemar Conservators and the Pacifica Shorebird Alliance. For more information about PEF, go to http://www.pacificasenvironmentalfamily.org.