Cold Fronts

Passion for Snow(en)

What do Daniel Webster, Dr. Seuss, C. Everett Koop, Robert Frost and 100+ Winter Olympians have in common? They all spent time at Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH where winters are long and snowy. Passion for Snow traces over 100 years of ski history in the United States with a focus on the many contributions of Dartmouth College and its alumni to the formation, growth and ongoing innovations in all aspects of snowsports. Passion for Snow combines firsthand accounts from early ski pioneers, veterans of the 10th Mountain Division, Olympians, members of the U.S. Ski Hall of Fame and top ski industry and resort executives, who explain how the most remotely located college in the Ivy League helped spawn a $25 billion industry, and continues to shape it today.

Nanook of the North(en)

This pioneering documentary film depicts the lives of the indigenous Inuit people of Canada's northern Quebec region. Although the production contains some fictional elements, it vividly shows how its resourceful subjects survive in such a harsh climate, revealing how they construct their igloo homes and find food by hunting and fishing. The film also captures the beautiful, if unforgiving, frozen landscape of the Great White North, far removed from conventional civilization.

NiiSoTeWak: Two Bodies, One Heart(en)

NiiSoTeWak means “walking the path together.” Tapwewin and Pawaken are 10-year-old brothers trying to make sense of the world, their family and each other. They’re already grappling with some heady questions about identity. What does it mean to be a twin? What does it mean to be Cree? How do you define yourself when you’re forever linked to someone else? The twins discuss these questions with their two elder brothers — 22-year-old actor Asivak and 20-year-old basketball player Mahiigan — and their parents, Jules and Jake.

The 11th Hour(en)

A look at the state of the global environment including visionary and practical solutions for restoring the planet's ecosystems. Featuring ongoing dialogues of experts from all over the world, including former Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev, renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, former head of the CIA R. James Woolse

Your Chance to Live: Winter Storm(en)

Intercuts scenes from Jack London's To build a fire with modern urban and rural winter scenes to point out the dangers of winter storms and low temperatures. Designed to stimulate discussion on civil preparedness for winter storms.

Your Chance to Live: Heat Wave(en)

The film highlights the dangers of extreme heat and the importance of staying hydrated and cool. It portrays a conversation between two friends, one of whom insists on playing basketball despite the oppressive heat. The narrative emphasizes that heat-related illnesses can be avoided by recognizing the body's signals and taking necessary precautions, such as drinking water and staying indoors. The film concludes with a report of record-breaking temperatures, underscoring the seriousness of heat exposure.

Abandoned(en)

A crew of backcountry skiers set out to explore Colorado’s lost ski areas in hopes to find adventure amongst the ruins. Instead, they discover the truth behind what made these areas close their doors for good and illustrates what skiing used to be like before mega resorts and climate change wreaked havoc on independently owned ski areas. Through heart-wrenching interviews with former owners, ski patrol, and historians, The Road West Traveled uncovers what it’s like to be a skier in Colorado's backcountry and what it means to go from lost to found.

Vancouver: No Fixed Address(en)

There is no topic that unites all of Vancouver quite like that of housing. At every dinner party, social gathering, or chance meeting in the street, everyone has an opinion, and they want to share it. Charles Wilkinson’s new film Vancouver: No Fixed Address tackles the subject from a multiplicity of perspectives. A chorus of voices chime in — everyone from David Suzuki, to Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, Seth Klein, Condo King Bob Rennie, Senator Yuen Pau Woo, and lots of regular Vancouver citizens.

Zyklonenbildung auf der Wetterkarte(de)

Short documentary about cyclones.

Wake of '38(en)

Personal experiences of Northwest Ohio residents during the January 1978 blizzard that disrupted daily activities. Stories include the helicopter rescue of an expectant mother, effects on emergency services, and methods people used to survive without electricity and heat.

Midwinter Hue(en)

A man steadily bashes through the snow. He disappears and the trees, covered in white, shift and show a beautiful array of hidden colors. A poetic, meditative short film about letting go of the past and embracing the unknown future.

c̓əsnaʔəm: the city before the city(en)

People often think of Vancouver as a new city, when in fact this region has been occupied for 9,000 years. This film aims to correct that with a meaningful reminder of the history and prehistory of this land and her first people.

White Winter(de)

In southern Germany, winter can still be admired in all its glory every year. With its white coat of snow and icicles and myriads of small crystals that look like geometric works of art. In the valleys and on the slopes the snow is still so thick every year that the alpine huts are snowed in up to the windows. Cows and dairymen are safe in their farms at lower altitudes. But not the wild creatures of the mountains! They need strategies to survive the cold season and to defy snow masses, cold and ice. And some seem to do it so easily that they even raise their young in the middle of winter. But how do animals, plants and fungi cope with the annually recurring ice age, which from our perspective is a time of need? The many adaptations in nature prove that winter is an integral part of the natural cycle of the year and the living environment of species. They are adapted to cold and frost. That is why the animals and plants at the edge of the Alps suffer particularly from climate change!

When Night Falls in Late December, Everything That Was is Left Behind(en)

A series of vignettes captured in Brevard, North Carolina at the end of December.

The Big Snow of '82(en)

News archive, home movies and interviews with celebrities are combined to look back at the extreme weather that hit Britain in December and January 40 years ago. Stories covered include a deadly train crash caused by a blizzard, as well as the Penlee lifeboat disaster, daring motorway rescues and RAF helicopters delivering lifesaving parcels to stranded Highlanders.

Black Ice(en)

Black Ice is a short film about a group of sailing enthusiasts who have adapted the principles of the sport to winter conditions. The sight of a fragile craft whisking across a frozen lake at one hundred km/h, leaving a shower of powdered ice in its wake, is breathtaking. Iceboat racing is exciting; a sport like no other in the world.

Habit(en)

There are as many paths as there are people. Some choose to be carpet salesman, others choose to be skiers. These behaviors are part of life's routine, and consciously or not, we're all slaves to it somehow. But you can't have the result without the process- you must get up to go down. Let this be your field guide to the minutia, the frivolities and of course the addiction to pure, uncut, freedom. Go ahead, scratch that itch. Because after all, we are creatures of HABIT.

Guest List(en)

Tom Wallisch and the Good Company crew return with their second full-length film, Guest List, featuring world class urban, park and backcountry skiing, all with their trademark fun style. Travel the world with Good Company as they seek out new cities, fresh pow and never been done tricks. The Guest List for this party is stacked and just getting started!

Stormchasers(en)

Track monsoons, hurricanes, blizzards, and tornadoes. Take a journey around the planet to experience our most extreme storms and to witness the dramatic--and often perilous--efforts of scientists in the pursuit of understanding weather.Join meteorologists in the cockpit of a P-3 weather plane as they penetrate the eye of a hurricane; and in the tense, decisive moments on the road as they focus their radar on an approaching tornado, traveling to the heart of severe storms to learn what makes weather systems tick. Experience the bumpy ride into the sudden and spectacular calm of a hurricane’s eye, or the commando-like raid to the very brink of a killer tornado, and experience one of the elemental joys of doing science: that of confronting nature head-on to divine its awesome secrets.

Wenn die Arktis schmilzt(de)