Antarctica. For now, a world frozen in time.

Award-winning Australian film composer David Bridie, recently visited the Antarctic region and stated so aptly that "Our own future depends on the fate of Antarctica. The colossal white ice desert. The ice is the memory of the world."

Environmentally, we know now that if we lose Antarctica, we lose our home planet’s delicately balanced ecosystem, and a stack of the world's biodiversity with it. We lose a healthy Earth, not just the home of the penguin.

Antarctica not only regulates the Earth's climate but holds in ice, the memory of our planet through the ages. Rodney and I have been invited on an exclusive, one-of-a-kind, life changing sailing expedition to the Antarctic. Sailing as two in a crew of eight people, we will make a cinematic feature length film and still photography series shining a light on the Antarctic region.

Our creative approach; as citizens. We are not scientists, nor experts in the field. In fact, we are moderately afraid of what we will discover on this journey. The expert science is out, and we know it doesn't look good. As experienced creatives, Rodney and I will preserve on film a time capsule piece for our and future generations.

As independent creators we will be reporting back to our community through our creative disciplines. We are storytellers. So we are literally going to go forth, and tell the story.

The world's top scientists have issued a dire forecast and we are seeing it play out in real time. The overarching thought is that, in some way, we will lose the region of Antarctica as we know it far sooner than anticipated. The ocean temperatures are rising fast.

On this trajectory, the thought is that Antarctica will disappear. Not immediately from above sea level, but rather, from below. As the oceans warm, the ice melts and eventually from above sea level too, the vast ice landscape will melt and sink into the sea. The entire ecosystem of planet earth will be irrevocably altered. This is unthinkable. This is also now fact.

We want to document and preserve this important region before it is lost. We want our creative offering to raise awareness and amplify important discussions that need to be had. Rodney's world class photography and our filmmaking skills will be put to the test. We’ll bring home and craft a story of beautiful wildlife, stunning landscapes and vignettes to help those at home perhaps decide to help save Earth's most delicate landscape too. We travel this journey, not with a corporate media or political agenda. We travel along as two imperfect humans, aware of our impact on our home planet, but with a deep love for Earth and as creatives determined to do something about our collective impact. How can we do this? By using our gifts. Simply put, as we say in Australia, we want ‘to do our bit'.

We're a lot like you. We're sacred of what we're seeing on the news. We're terrified of how our planet may look for future generations. But rather than receding, and recoiling in fear ensconced in debate and rhetoric, we can go on a journey to find out more. Maybe we can help you find out more, too.

We can look at solutions and be inspired by this majestic part of our home planet. We're going to need to do a lot of research, homework, training for cold water conditions and underwater photography. We're going to need to be brave to cross Drake's Passage; one of Earth's most notoriously dangerous water ways to get to Antarctica.

We almost don't want to know what happens if Antartica disappears. But we can't put our heads in the sand. We are creatives who have the power to make a positive impact.

We will raise initial funds to get us both to Antarctica. We will then set about raising the rest of the funding needed to complete shooting, post production and marketing of our film and photography series. Fundraising and news on the project will begin from late February, 2024. And so our question to you is:

Will you help us on our mission: to create a World-Class, Award-Winning feature documentary and photography series worthy of a world-wide audience?

We welcome your constructive collaborative ideas, introductions to positive networks for change, and taste-makers or influential personalities or brands who may help this vision come to life. We are assembling our dream team of producers, financiers, creatives, visionaries, dreamers and do-ers… will you support us as we journey ahead into uncharted waters?

Sincerely, in humility for what we are yet to learn, and with respect for mother Earth,

James Douglas Cooper + Rodney Bursiel, January, 2024.