BLACK ICE

The story of the Greenpeace Arctic 30


When the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise set sail to protest the first ever oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean, none of the people on board could have known what was coming.

Seized at gunpoint by Russian special forces, the ‘Arctic 30’ were thrust into headlines all over the world, facing up to 15 years in prison and finding themselves at the centre of a bitter international dispute.

A similar protest the previous year at the same oil platform had seen the Greenpeace activists walk away untouched. This time, the events that unfolded sent shockwaves across the world.

With the eyes of the world upon them, Russia charged the crew, from 18 different countries, with piracy and hooliganism. It was the most ruthless response from a national government against an NGO in a quarter of a century.

Their imprisonment, which saw worldwide media cast the Arctic 30 in the same mould as political prisoners like Pussy Riot and Mikhail Khodorkovsky, lasted months. However, their resolve to try and stop oil drilling in the Arctic was never broken.

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Contact

For enquiries regarding the documentary please email the producers at: maarten.van.rouveroy@gmail.com

Credits

Director, Editor & Executive Producer: Maarten van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal Producers: Tom Lowe, Elaine Hill Camera: Maarten van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal, Kieron Bryan, Stephen Nugent, Igor Kim, Vladislav Zalevskiy, Ilia Butakov, Tom Lowe, Georgy Timofeev, Stephen Rychetnik, Matt Kemp, Antony Butts, Hernan Perez Aguirre, Anton Zhelonkin, Frits Meulenveld, Basil Tsimoyianis, Thomas Reinecke, Jasper Korff Graphic design & animations: Elaine Hill Re-recording mixer: Tom Bijnen Grading & online edit: Laurent Fluttert Featuring: Roman Dolgov, Christy Ferguson, Richard Harvey, Frank Hewetson, Denis Krivosheev, Dima Litvinov, Kumi Naidoo, Faiza Oulahsen, Paul Ruzycki, Sini Saarela, Rick Steiner, Peter Willcox Special thanks to: The Arctic 30, Ana Paula Alminhana Maciel, Ben Ayliffe, Daniel Bird, Carin Bazuin, Tulio Campregher, Maria Favorskaya, Gaynor Fawkes, Sol Gosetti, Matt Kemp, Helena Meresman, Edward Nazarski, André Nollkaemper, Joost Oskamp, Andreas Østhagen, Markus Power, Isabelle Philippe, Daniel Rizzotti, Fabien Rondal, Elena Sakirko, Patric Salize, Sune Scheller, Daniel Simons, Ben Stewart, Thomas Stocker, Mark Stucke, Sonka Terfehr, James Turner, Alexander Urzhanov, Eef Verkade Interactive platform design & development: Elaine Hill, ClickVid & Ana HristovaPrirazlomnaya in webGL: Matt DesLauriers and Ryan Bearsford-Walker