Mammoth

In the remote Russian Arctic, an aging permafrost scientist and his son have been toiling for years on a plan that’s equal parts ambitious, fantastical and brilliant. Their goal: recreate the Ice Age by repopulating vast swaths of land with herbivores, such as bison, muskoxen and, eventually, lab-created mammoths. Their hope is that the animals will restore the forest back to grassland steppe, mitigating the effects of climate change. For Sergey and Nikita Zimov, Pleistocene Park isn’t only a short-term project about animals and habitat. It’s a life’s work seeking a solution for humanity, defusing a giant carbon bomb and reversing the ever-escalating effects of climate change. This poetic film by Mountainfilm Commitment Grantee Grant Slater highlights the human ingenuity and wide-ranging ambition at work in the climate crisis.