SHORT FILMS

Watch: Entrancing Short Doc 'Haulout' About Walruses in the Arctic

by Alex Billington
January 10, 2023
Source: YouTube

"The coast is completely full." This is a sad story, a necessary story to tell, but it's captured so beautifully on camera anyway. Haulout is a short film released by the New Yorker magazine, created by two filmmakers Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev. The title is a reference to the process known as "haulout", during which various sea mammals emerge from the water and spend time resting on rocks, beaches, and ice. This short film follows one man who lives in a small wooden hut up in the Siberian Arctic. He's living up there studying the walruses and their annual haulout. Unfortunately this mean he witnesses first hand the chaotic effects of climate change on Pacific walruses. These poor creatures end up stuffed, without an extra square inch between any of them, on this beach. It's awful. For those wondering, this is not natural – usually they rest on sea ice or icebergs. But there is none left due to climate change. This film lets long, slow shots of the Arctic experience show us humans down in warmer climates just how bad it is getting. We need to do more.

Thanks to Twitter for the tip on this short. Brief description from YouTube: "A lone scientist on the coast of the Siberian Arctic finds that warming seas have taken a toll on the walrus migration." Haulout is a short documentary film made by Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev. It's also written by and produced by Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev. It's produced by Albireo Films, and made for The New Yorker. "Arbugaev was a professional hockey player for fifteen years before he started making movies. ('It's actually really helpful,' Arbugaeva said. 'Physically, he is quite strong and has the endurance for shooting in harsh conditions.') Together, they've been covering stories about the Arctic for more than a decade. 'Increasingly, these stories become about the tragedy of climate change,' Arbugaeva said. But, for this film, 'it was such a visceral experience,' she said. 'This is irreversible, and [it's] the beginning of something really scary for this animal.'" For more info, read the full article on New Yorker. To find more shorts, click here. Your thoughts?

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