Sila and the Gatekeepers of the Arctic

The concept of sila—a term that encompasses weather, balance, consciousness—frames a story in the world’s northernmost inhabited town of Greenland. Here, a tiny community of Inuit subsistence hunters and a team of polar scientists bear witness, in different ways, to the transforming environment. For the Inuit, drastic recent changes in weather patterns are spelling an end to their centuries-old way of life. As the international researchers track the effects of those changes on Greenland’s vast Inland Ice Cap and the far-reaching consequences they will have, the film weaves together distinct narratives to put a human face on a highly politicized issue. The specifically Greenlandic idea that weather acts as the conscience of nature informs a unique story at the frontlines of climate change.

Corina Gamma, / Greenland, 2015, 70 min