Time and Water

“First there was nothing, then fire and ice met. In the chaos, a cow rose up, made of ice and snow, and from her body emerged glaciers that carved out mountains and valleys. From her udders flowed rivers that fed the world. Her ice created a home… and ice became a home for us all.” Andri Snær Magnason read this Icelandic creation myth to his children when they were small. Using his family archive as a starting point, he turns that myth into a fantastic story that connects deep geological time with our own lives. In this way, the film becomes a time capsule for the future, in which the Icelandic glaciers and the memories of them are kept alive. His grandparents Hulda and Árni were glacier scientists who spent their honeymoon on an expedition on Iceland's largest glacier. Amidst indigo-blue ice caves, images that almost resemble science fiction, we learn that blue is the color of old ice: “The deeper the blue, the deeper the time.” Hulda talks about the scent of a glacier in spring, difficult to describe and exciting at the same time. Meanwhile, the ice is melting, and Andri says goodbye to Okjökull, the first Icelandic glacier to disappear due to climate change. His poignant words and the overwhelming images by Dosa and her team together form a loving family portrait and an impressive letter to the future. A film about what we cherish and what we are in danger of losing, made to be seen on the big screen.