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Documentary on glacier melt at Sebastiani

The visually spectacular, cinematic feature “Chasing Ice,” directed and produced by Jeff Orlowski, will have its Sonoma Valley debut, one night only, at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 25, at the Sebastiani Theatre.

A special addition to the evening will be a brief presentation on current trends in the climate debate by Sonoma native, May Boeve, executive director of the international climate organization, 350.org.

Especially suited to the big screen, “Chasing Ice” captures the harrowing adventure of acclaimed environmental photographer James Balog who headed to the Arctic on a tricky assignment for National Geographic to capture images to help tell the story of the Earth’s changing climate. Even with a scientific upbringing, Balog had been a skeptic about climate change. But that first trip north opened his eyes to the biggest story in human history and sparked a challenge within him that would put his career and his very well-being at risk.

Within months of that first trip, in 2006, the photographer conceived the boldest expedition of his life: The Extreme Ice Survey.

With a band of young adventurers in tow, Balog began deploying revolutionary time-lapse cameras across the brutal Arctic to capture a multi-year record of the world’s changing glaciers.

With an original sound track by J. Ralph, including a 2013 Oscar-nominated, original song “Before My Time,” performed by Scarlett Johansson and Joshua Bell, the 75-minute feature documentary will be shown at the reduced admission price of $8. The special screening in Sonoma is co-sponsored by the Sebastiani Theatre Foundation and Transition Sonoma Valley whose mission is to build a responsive network of local citizens, groups and businesses to create a resilient, self-reliant community in response to the challenges of climate change, peak oil and economic instability.

To help support the work of both organizations donations will also be encouraged.

For more information about the world-wide transition movement and to learn about TSV’s films and activities, visit transitionsonomavalley.org.