Dutch filmmaker Jan van den Berg is a man on a mission. He is determined to raise awareness about the lethal pesticides and pollutions that are finding their way to the Inuit communities living in the far north of the world. Silent Snow, currently a short film and soon to be expanded into a feature length movie, is a documentary project investigating the pollution of the global environmental system. We caught up with Jan to ask him a few questions about Silent Snow and life with the Inuit people.
Please tell us about Silent Snow.
I wanted to make a film about the chemical pollution of the arctic. But the arctic region is enormous. I studied anthropology in the Netherlands and knew a lot of people who told me to go to "their" area, the place they did their research. All very faraway places, and not easy to reach.
Later I met Ole Jorgen Hammeken, in Amsterdam. He told me to go to his place – Uummanna - the most beautiful place in the world, which seemed to be true. I bought a lot of clothes; a new HDV camera and I went together with my best soundman, Jillis Schriel, who prepared his cables for -70 degrees Celsius, which wasn't needed, because the minimum temperature was never less than -20 degrees Celsius. Mostly it was around zero and that was great for my film, because we had to sail first and then travel by dogsled.
Is Silent Snow an environmental film?
Yes it is. There's pollution everywhere. It's coming to their community by wind and ocean currents and damaging the lives of innocent people. And it's a warning for the world. Because Eskimos are the so-called canaries in the mine, this is a warning that we should stop slowly poisoning our planet.
Why did you make this film?
I was really angry, because these persistent organic pollutants (POPs), some of them are forbidden since the Stockholm convention in 1992, and they're still being made and used in many countries.
What are the poisons that make their way to Greenland?
DDT and Endosulfan are found in polar bears and humans, they travel north, by wind and ocean currents, and accumulate in plankton, smaller fish and they end up in whale blubber, eaten by people in the north. They also attach themselves to snow and when the snow melts it comes in the environment again. So you could say it's also an effect of global warming.
Are the toxins worse in Greenland than in other parts of the world?
They accumulate there, but also in other countries. In our feature film, that we are now producing, an Eskimo goes in search of the sources of the pollution, and the same high levels are found in humans in Eastern Europe, India, Africa and in Eastern Europe.
In India, where DDT is being produced, you find it around the factories and the places where it's being used, like agricultural fields. In Africa, where they spray it against malaria mosquitoes, you find it in people who live in these contaminated houses.
Does Silent Snow make a connection between the cultures that use the pesticides and the Inuit communities?
That's the strange thing, there's no connection, only these winds, currents and snow. But in a small world we're living in, everybody is connected. But, a small world also means that international companies can decide to have these pesticides made in countries in the third world, while these same pesticides are forbidden in their own countries.
What did you learn while making the film?
I loved being in Greenland, the people were great. Especially the people I lived with, Ann and Ole Jorgen Hammeken, and her daughter Pipaluk and her friend Sarah. I never had been up north, I have always been filming in Africa and Asia, and I hated the cold. But this Bay of Uummannaq is indeed the most beautiful place on earth. From the arrival - flying between the cobalt sky seeing icebergs with all their different colors, until the end, when I decided - like everybody always does - to come back again.
Was it an easy/difficult film to make?
With the help of these nice people it was easy. But the long film - I mean the short teaser film is made to raise money for the long one - is far away. People don't like the subject. Climate change waves of 6 meters are easier to sell as a story of pollution. But we're going to make this film because it's an important story.
What will the expanded film include?
It's an Inuit search for solutions of the chemical poisoning of the world. She's going to find out why people still use these forbidden chemicals and also look for alternatives. The conclusion will be that we never should make new products that we don't know how to keep out of nature.
Visit: www.silentsnow.org
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