About

Host: Sophie Lanfear

Moderated by Joshua Jones, Scripps Institution of Oceanography

“This has been a true labour of love for hundreds of filmmakers, cinematographers, conservationists, editors, musicians and production teams, all of whom have brought their best work to the most important story that there is – a story that could not be more universal or more timely.”—David Attenborough

Four billion years. Millions of species. Five mass extinction events (and counting). It’s the story of Life on Our Planet. From the Emmy® Award-winning team behind Netflix’s Our Planet series, comes a new natural history speaker series event: The Making of Our Planet. Brought to you by Silverback Films and Producer esk. in association with Netflix, The Making of Our Planet is a new and immersive live show featuring behind-the-scenes stories from the explorers, filmmakers, scientists, and adventurers that created some of the most eye-catching footage of our planet. Join us live on stage as we bring to life these stories from the natural world. With a focus on climate fragility and climate migration, The Making of Our Planet tells an unprecedented story about overcoming obstacles on a global scale and explores the messages at the heart of these action-packed, emotional, and unforgettable sequences.

Frozen Worlds

The unforgiving frontier of climate change. The calving of a gigantic iceberg or the risks of fossil fuel exploration in the arctic are never far from our news screens. Yet what does it mean for those that live there? Join us as we follow polar bears, walruses, seals and penguins as they find their icy Edens in peril. Brought to you by the speakers, adventurers and explorers that have joined the tradition of the polar explorer and returned to tell us why this frozen frontier is vital for our planet.

Sophie Lanfear

Emmy-Award winning Producer/Director Sophie Lanfear first developed a passion for the natural world and the Polar Regions following her childhood in the Norwegian Arctic. She has earned a reputation for having the tenacity and resilience it takes to film in some of the most extreme and remote locations in the world. She produced and directed Frozen Worlds, part of the Netflix Our Planet series: winning an Emmy-award for her work. It is one of the most pressing stories of our time, that people understand the value of the polar regions and realize what the consequences of climate change are doing to them. Since Our Planet, Sophie has spent the last 5 years producing/directing 2 episodes of Life on Our Planet, where her arctic knowledge came to the fore once more in her season finale: Chapter 8 -Age of Ice and Fire. It was important to end the series with a greater understanding about the 6th mass extinction we are causing, as well as what the future might hold without us here.

Joshua Jones

Joshua Jones has spent the past 30 years working on the ocean—as a mariner, fisherman, and scientist. He holds a PhD in Biological Oceanography from UC San Diego, where he leads an Arctic marine mammal research program at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Josh works closely with Inuit local and regional resource managers to study how changing ocean conditions and increased human activity—especially shipping—are impacting Arctic whales and seals. His research integrates technology, ecology, and community-led ocean observation to inform decision-making on marine resources and wildlife.

He directed and produced Whales: Voices in the Sea, an interactive exhibit shown in nine U.S. aquariums, and founded SeaTech, a research and training program that provides research internship opportunities for high school students from Alaska to California.

Josh also serves as principal scientific advisor to several contemporary classical music projects with UC San Diego composer Lei Liang, providing ocean acoustic data for works including Arctic: Six Seasons and Inaudible Ocean, which bring the ocean to listeners through immersive musical experiences.