A majestic black-and-white killer whale rises vertically out of the ocean water, its head and part of its body piercing the calm surface. The sky above is overcast, adding a dramatic backdrop to this breathtaking display.
A polar bear emerges from the water, its head and upper body visible. The bear's white fur contrasts with the deep blue of the rippling water surrounding it, reminiscent of the stark beauty found alongside killer whales in their shared icy habitat.
Two killer whales with distinctive black and white markings swim close together in calm ocean waters, their dorsal fins prominently above the surface. A distant, blurred coastline is visible in the background.

Killer Whales – Fins of Change

Nature & Wildlife·1 x 53 min·Completed

As polar bears struggle in a warming Arctic, orcas emerge as the new apex predators, reshaping the ecosystem. Witness this dramatic shift!

Factsheet

You are currently viewing a placeholder content from YouTube. To access the actual content, click the button below. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.

More Information
Unblock content Accept required service and unblock content
Genre
Nature & Wildlife
Duration
1 × 53 min
Definition
HD
Audio
5.1
Status
Completed
Back to all projects

Synopsis

A remarkable story is unfolding in the Arctic right now. As the ice melts and the polar bear struggles to survive in a fast-warming world, another animal is rapidly moving into the northern regions of the planet – and it is starting to usurp the polar bear’s dominant role.

Welcome the new top predator of the Arctic: the infamous killer whale or, correctly, orca. It’s the first time that a camera crew managed to film orcas in Arctic waters, the first time to film orcas hunting narwhal – and the first time to film polar bears catching fish in a river.

For centuries, the Arctic and its challenging environment has been dominated by the polar bear – this animal is perfectly insulated against the extreme cold. But now, the polar bear’s world sees a fundamental change.

In the last 50 years – and at an apparently accelerating rate – one third of the Arctic ice cap has melted, and more and more open sea is revealed in the summer months. The polar bear’s home ground is vanishing from under its feet. Although classified as a marine mammal, it is not adapted to hunting in the water despite being able to swim huge distances. And polar bears are certainly no match for the world’s greatest aquatic hunter – the orca or killer whale.

In the last few years, scientists have started noting an ever-growing number of orcas in Arctic waters in the summer months. And they are not only attacking narwhal, belugas and bowhead whales, but also the polar bear’s preferred prey: seals. As the polar bear’s world is shrinking, the orca’s is growing.

The local Inuit people have seen changes in behaviour and increasing orca predation on the local cetaceans. The Inuit are key players in this story. Their lives are intimately entwined with this harsh and cold environment. The introduction of a new aquatic predator impacts their own hunting opportunities – in both a positive and negative way.

The film accompanies scientists on a summer trip deep into Arctic waters – to film new behaviours, to meet the Inuit and learn from their first-hand experiences, and to try and understand the impact orcas are having on Arctic wildlife. Tagging the orcas helps to interpret their comings and goings. With the help of the scientific findings, this film explores the fast-changing world of the Arctic.

As the television premiere of this story, this documentary will be the first to chart the dramatic events as they unfold: the changing Arctic environment that pits one of the world’s greatest land predators against one of the world’s greatest ocean predators.

Team

Written and directed by Ben Wallis
Executive producers Ivo Filatsch, Sabine Holzer
Production companies A Terra Mater Factual Studios/Brian Leith Productions Ltd. production in co-production with Thirteen WNET/New York and NDR Naturfilm Doclights GmbH

Awards & Recognitions

Rotterdam, Netherlands Wildlife Film Festival Rotterdam Nomination 2016
Athens, Greece International Science Film Festival Athens Nomination 2016
Thailand/Germany GOETHE Science Film Festival Ökofilmpreis 2015
New York, USA New York Festivals Gold World Medal (Category: Environment & Ecology) 2015
New York, USA New York Wild Film Festival Best Wildlife Film 2015
Deauville, France Deauville Green Awards Silver Award (Category: Sustainable Nature & Preservation) 2015
Bratislava, Slovakia IFF Ekotopfilm - Envirofilm Prize of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic 2015
Gödöllö, Hungary International Nature Film Festival First Prize Natural and Environmental Protection (Categories: Biodiversity & Best Director Award) 2015
Redondo Beach, USA US International Film & Video Festival Silver Screen 2015
Monaco BLUE Ocean Film Festival & Conservation Summit Finalist (Category: Broadcast TV Program) 2015
Ludwigsburg, Germany NaturVision Nomination 2015
Jackson, USA Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, Science Media Awards Best Environmental & Conservation Sciences Program 2014
Lihula, Estonia Matsalu International Nature Film Festival Nomination 2014
Distributor

Talk to our Distributor

Interested in licensing and watching the full production? Contact our distributor here.

Get in touch
Footage rights

Licensing & Usage

Interested in licensing or footage usage?
Contact us directly.

Get in touch

In the same Genre