Silent Snow

In Uummanaq, a town in Greenland, two girls Sarah and Pipaluk worry about the melting ice. Global warming is to blame. But that's not all: pollution from Europe and America comes to Greenland via ocean currents, resulting in the toxication of the fish which Greenlanders live off of. In shock and awe, the friends watch a television programme about 'their' environmental problems. As young as they are, they realize that life in Uummanaq as they know it is in danger. "They say you always have to keep coming back. But I'm not sure if it is possible in the future." Some people even claim that Uummanaq will cease to exist entirely and that nearly one thousand inhabitants will have to move elsewhere, which they think is unfair. In this short film, Van de Berg follows the girls in their daily lives. They take turns narrating, talking about their concerns. In stylish, fairy-tale images, the icy landscape passes by. Grand vistas of icebergs in the grey-blue sea and the fishermen on the infinite ice plains are accompanied by the sounds of Klaus Huber, Valentin Silvestrov and Bach. Greenlanders have many different words for snow, but they have yet to invent a word for the polluted version.