The Vanishing Drift Ice off Japan’s Shiretoko Peninsula
2023 12 minutes Shiretoko, Hokkaido
Each winter, Shiretoko in Japan's far north bears witness to a dramatic spectacle. Drift ice is carried by oceanic currents from the Arctic to shores of the peninsula on the northeastern tip of the island of Hokkaido, where it melts releasing nutrients that benefit the unique local ecosystem. But climate change has steadily pushed back the arrival date of the ice and reduced the volume of the floes, damaging the fishing industry as well as threatening plants, animals, people and the even unique sounds of an area designated a Unesco World Heritage site in 2005. l.
available on SCMP Films
featuring: Yui Takagi, Mizuki Maruko, Yoichi Kamimura
Directed, Shot & Edited by Colleen Kwok
Produced by Alexander Solum
Post Production Supervisor: Jonathan Vit
additional footage by: Hotoiki, Okawa Takuya