A love letter to her Greenland home, Ivalo Frank’s stirring documentary explores the paradoxes of this beautiful and remote island. According to a groundbreaking study by geologist Minik Rosing, it is where life on Earth began, among the rock formations that have existed for nearly 4bn years. At the same time, the residents of Greenland are also bearing witness to what could be the first signs of our environmental annihilation, as the island’s icecap continues to melt at a terrifying speed under the effects of global heating.
The question of human survival is an overwhelmingly existential one. Frank’s film, however, also makes spaces for expressions of life both big and small. Intimate conversations with Greenlandic teenagers reveal their dreams for the future, as they look to find love, friendship and economic stability. Their aspirations are coloured by interviews with scientists, including Rosing, who discuss frankly the detrimental effects of human exploitation of the planet. Due to the neglect of previous generations, these youths will now inherit a much more inhospitable one.
