DCEFF in collaboration with the Austrian Cultural Forum Washington D.C. (ACF DC) proudly presents MELT by Nikolaus Geyrhalter at the Embassy of Austria.
In this Austrian documentary, we are immersed in a world of white. Snow and ice, as far as the eye can see. Nikolaus Geyrhalter has visited spectacular locations across the world and met people who are surrounded by these landscapes every day. MELT explores their stories – and the gradual disappearance of the ice that was once assumed to be eternal.
Doors open at 6:15 PM
Film screening starts at 7:00 PM
Wine reception before the start of the film.
Images © Icarus Films, NGF Geyrhalterfilm
ABOUT DCEFF | Festival Dates: March 19-28, 2026
Since 1993, the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital (DCEFF) has been the premier showcase of environmental films. Each March, the DCEFF team brings the world’s largest green film festival to museums, embassies, universities, and other cultural institutions across Washington DC. In addition to the many thousands of audience members DCEFF serves with its in-person programming, it offers year-round virtual screenings to passionate and environmentally-conscious viewers across the United States and the world.
ABOUT THE FILM
Title: MELT
Genre: Documentary
Year: 2025
Country: Austria
Length: 127 min
Languages: English, French, German, Japanese | with English subtitles
Filming locations: Antarctica, Austria, Canada, France, Iceland, Japan, Switzerland
Director: Nikolaus Geyrhalter
Production Company: NGF Geyrhalterfilm
In Nikolaus Geyrhalter's new film, we are immersed in a white world. Snow and ice as far as the eye can see. The protagonists are people who are surrounded by this world every day. MELT tells this story – and the story of the creeping disappearance of this magical mass, this not-so-eternal ice.
While in Tateyama, Japan, bulldozers create impressive sixteen-meter-high walls of snow to clear the way for tourists, in the ski resort of Val-d'Isère, a wonderland is being produced from artificial snow. In Switzerland, snow groomers carve furrows into the glacial landscape to store the snow for the next ski season, and in Iceland, visitors pose in front of enormous blocks of ice that are slowly being swallowed by the sea. On the surface, everything seems perfect, but behind the white facade, the ice and snow are beginning to melt.
Filmmaker Nikolaus Geyrhalter travels across the globe, from the largest glacier in the Alps in Switzerland, through Japan, Canada, Austria, and Iceland, to a research station in Antarctica. In wide, serene shots, he allows these fascinating white landscapes to speak for themselves. He adopts the role of observer, bringing before the camera those people who are confronted with the challenges, the power, and the beauty of snow.
Wherever Geyrhalter goes, his subjects tell of the decline of snow, of melting glaciers, and of increasingly extreme weather events—of how they are feeling the effects of climate change more and more in their work and daily lives. Nikolaus Geyrhalter makes documentaries for the future. With MELT, filmed between 2021 and 2025, he captures powerful snapshots for the archives of tomorrow, thereby posing the major, pressing questions of climate policy.
Images © Icarus Films, NGF Geyrhalterfilm