Dir. Ivalo Frank - 73min - 2022 - Greenland, Denmark, Germany

Life on Earth begins and ends with Greenland. Researcher Minik Rosing’s landmark discovery of the first life contrasts with the melting ice masses in Ivalo Frank’s tribute to her beautiful homeland.

Our most basic understanding of the origins of life was recently turned upside down when Greenlandic scientist Minik Rosing discovered the first traces of life on Earth in a small fjord near Isua. His discovery predated all previous traces of life by over 300 million years. Life began in Greenland. But at the same time, its melting ice masses are accelerating day by day, and scientists around the world agree that it could drown our entire civilisation if it is allowed to continue. The end of life will also start from Greenland.

Director Ivalo Frank’s new film is a tribute to her vast, scenic country, caught between two extremes: the beginning and the end of life on Earth as we know it. Between the dizzying concept of deep time and the acceleration of modernity, Frank’s film anchors itself in its own moment through the encounter with a group of children from the village of Kangaatsiaq who fall in love, form friendships and struggle with loss and longing.