UNCW Researchers Produce Award-Winning Documentary

A UNCW research expedition to Greenland is the focus of an award-winning feature documentary, A Map of the World in Time, which premiered on Friday, Oct. 24 at the Raw Science Film Festival in New York City.  

The film details the 2023 Baffin Bay Deglacial Experiment, known as BADEX, led by an international team of scientists studying the retreat of the Greenland Ice Sheet at the end of the last ice age. The 34-day voyage, funded by the National Science Foundation, included researchers from UNCW, the University of Florida, Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Oregon State University, the University of Colorado-Boulder, and the University of Washington.  

UNCW Associate Professor Shannon Klotsko served as co-chief scientist alongside Rob Hatfield, University of Florida, and Brendon Reilly, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Two UNCW graduate students, Erin Gregory and Megan Siragusa joined the voyage. Gregory is continuing work as Klotsko's first ACOS Ph.D. student and Siragusa is now employed as a sediment core specialist with a national consulting firm. 

In order to broaden the project’s public reach, the BADEX team partnered with filmmakers to capture the human and scientific stories unfolding at sea. Directed by former UNCW Film Studies faculty Georg Koszulinski and Janneke Wade-de Jong ’23M, serving as assistant director and editor, A Map of the World in Time offers rare insight into life aboard the research vessel. In addition to capturing the 2023 voyage, the film includes archival footage from landmark oceanographic expeditions of the 1950s and 60s. 

“The overarching filmmaking has been an unexpected part of the BADEX project and has been a wonderful learning experience. Scientists have our typical avenues of public outreach, but working with an artistic filmmaker has really opened my eyes to a whole world of opportunities for alternative means of sharing science,” said Klotsko. “The premiere of the feature film is the culmination of more than five years of work, after first contacting Georg in 2020, and it has been fantastic to see it come to fruition.”  

The film was an official selection at the Raw Science Film Festival and earned the Raw Frontier Award, recognizing its innovative portrayal of exploration and discovery. Klotsko, Koszulinski, Hatfield and Reilly also led a workshop at the festival on collaborative storytelling between scientists and filmmakers.  

“I believe that the film is going to be an important part of oceanographic film history. It documents what oceanographic expeditions actually entail for the public, including incredible historic oceanographic footage. It also has the dual focuses on the mariners that allow sea-going science to be conducted at all, and the scientists' view of the expedition while we are trying to collect data to answer massive questions that could ultimately lead to career-defining discoveries,” said Klotsko.  

A Map of the World in Time is available for rent on Amazon Prime, coming soon on Apple TV+ and Proquest.