THAW, a climate documentary about effort, uncertainty, and a melting glacier
THAW is a documentary film by filmmaker Robin Danehav, following a real climate experiment on Sweden’s highest mountain, Kebnekaise.
This documentary follows a real climate experiment on Sweden’s highest mountain, Kebnekaise, where a group of people attempt to slow glacier melting by covering part of the ice with a large wool blanket.
The idea is simple. Wool insulates. Ice melts more slowly when protected from direct heat. But turning that idea into reality on a mountain glacier, in changing weather and difficult terrain, is physically demanding, logistically complex, and filled with uncertainty.
I began filming this project in April, before I understood how challenging it would become for me personally.
A filmmaker out of his depth on the mountain
I am not a mountaineer. I am a filmmaker.
From the outside, the work looked manageable. Long days, heavy lifting, difficult conditions, but nothing impossible. Once we were on the mountain, the contrast became obvious. The experienced mountain team moved calmly and efficiently through terrain that pushed me to my limits.
Carrying camera equipment while skiing, climbing, and traversing a glacier stripped filmmaking down to its core. There were moments when my body simply refused to cooperate. Moments when exhaustion took over and all focus narrowed to just getting forward, step by step.
What felt overwhelming to me felt routine to the people I was filming. That difference created an important tension in the story. The mountain does not adjust to experience levels. It only responds to effort.
Three trips, three seasons, one uncertain outcome
The project unfolded over three separate trips to Kebnekaise, spread across different seasons. Winter snow and transport by snowmobile. Summer heat and long approaches on foot. And finally, an autumn return to see what remained after months of melting.
Each visit added a new layer to the story. Physically, mentally, and emotionally.
There was never a guarantee that the wool blanket would make a measurable difference. No script. No certainty of results. The work still had to be done. That uncertainty sits at the heart of this film.
This is not a story about finding a perfect solution to climate change. It is a story about effort. About committing to an idea and seeing it through, even when the outcome is unclear and the impact feels small.
Making climate change visible through real action
Climate change is often discussed through numbers, graphs, and distant projections. On the glacier, it becomes physical.
You see it in the ice. In the melt patterns. In the scale of the landscape compared to the people working on it. By documenting the experiment as it unfolded, rather than explaining it afterward, the film stays close to reality. Doubt, persistence, and responsibility are shown through action, not statements.
The project was led by Swedish adventurer Oskar Kihlborg, whose experience in extreme environments made it possible to attempt something this demanding in the first place. For me, working alongside people with that level of competence reinforced how much effort real action requires, and how invisible that effort often is from a distance.
Documentary storytelling without guarantees
This approach reflects how I think about documentary filmmaking more broadly. The stories that matter to me are not built around clean narratives or guaranteed success. They are about people who take responsibility for an idea and carry it through, despite uncertainty.
This film is part of my ongoing project to create 100 documentaries about people who are trying to make the world better in their own way. Not through grand gestures, but through sustained effort, often far from the spotlight.
Every film changes me in some way. This one did so by forcing me into a situation where I was constantly reminded of my own limits, and by showing how much persistence lies behind even the smallest visible result.
Watch the film
You can watch the full documentary THAW right here when it premieres 27th Jan at 19.00 CET.
If the film resonates with you, I hope it encourages you to think differently about effort, scale, and what it means to try.
Sometimes change doesn’t come from certainty or perfect solutions. Sometimes it starts with people willing to act, even when the outcome is unclear.