Earth Flicks & Chill x Climate Film Festival: Himalayan Glaciers short film series at x+why People's Mission Hall

Join us at 'Earth Flicks & Chill' for an engaging bi-monthly gathering featuring inspiring documentaries on environmental issues, social challenges, and tales of human resilience. Immerse yourself in thought-provoking films followed by relaxed discussions, fostering a community dedicated to exploring our planet and its people.

🌍 Episode 7: Himalayan Glaciers & Human Resilience
We’re back for episode 7 of Earth Flicks & Chill – and this time we’re teaming up with the incredible Climate Film Festival for a cinematic journey to remote villages in the Hindu Kush Himalayas.

We’ll be screening three powerful short films exploring the beauty, fragility, and importance of Himalayan glaciers — and the people working tirelessly to protect them through ground breaking adaptation solutions.

Mountain Man (2022, dir. Arun Bhattarai) 
Phuntsho Tshering (42) is the only glaciologist in Bhutan. He is also the only person that has permission to climb the mountains because they are considered to be sacred. Every year he travels for days on foot to the most remote corners of the Bhutanese Himalayas, measuring the glaciers as they rapidly melt because of climate change. Yangchen, his 11 year old daughter, has seen him disappear for months every year, ever since she can remember. As Phuntsho negotiates the difficult terrain, what gives him escape is sharing his story with his daughter through videos he makes for her on his phone. For Yangchen the mountain is the home of the "snow lion," where people cannot go, and every time her father steps on it he could be disturbing its abode. The locals say the consequences of angering the snow lion could be devastating. But Phuntsho is the only person who can measure the glaciers, and the mountains have to be climbed because the snow lion itself is losing its home.

Confluence: Storying the glacier-fed rivers of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (2025, dir Nyal Mueenuddin, Neelima Vallangi & Deej Phillips)

As part of the launch of The Confluence Project for the UN’s International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation, two short films from Zanskar (India) and Gilgit-Baltistan (Pakistan) spotlight life on the frontlines of glacier loss in the upper Indus Basin.

In Zanskar, climate journalist Neelima Vallangi and filmmaker Deej Phillips tell an intimate story of shrinking glaciers, water insecurity, and the innovative ways mountain communities are adapting — from artificial ice reservoirs to solar pumps.

Across the border in Gilgit-Baltistan, filmmaker Nyal Mueenuddin captures the risks and resilience of those living in one of the most glaciated regions outside the polar zones, where communities face increasing threats from glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) and disrupted water flows.

Both films explore the shared vulnerabilities and ingenious responses of communities connected by the Indus River system. Together, they form a powerful call to recognise the global significance of Himalayan ice — and the urgent need for collective action to protect it.

After the screenings, we’ll host a panel discussion with special guests (to be announced soon), diving deeper into the films, climate action, and what glacier loss means for communities across South Asia and beyond.

Event Agenda
6:00pm – Welcome drinks
6:15pm – First film begins
7:15pm – Panel discussion
7:45pm – Drinks and chill
9:00pm – Event finish

Event Organisers
Earth Flicks & Chill, Climate Film Festival & x+why People’s Mission Hall

Climate Film Festival
The Climate Film Festival (CFF) is the largest festival of its kind in New York City, supported by the Guardian US and featuring a jury of 15 industry leaders in filmmaking and climate. As a new cultural institute with an annual festival, year-round programming, and educational resources, CFF aims to rewrite the narrative on climate change by harnessing the power of motion pictures, showcasing new and established voices, classic climate films, and energizing, human stories. CFF's annual film festival runs September 19-22, 2025 in NYC.

x+why
We are x+why and we’re on a mission to change the way the world works for good. Through our innovative, award-winning flexible workspaces we are uniting like-minded businesses, inspiring community, collaboration and culture, to amplify their great work to the wider business world.

Speakers 

Nyal Mueenuddin is on a cinematic journey to understand the many fabrics of the human experience that together weave our shared humanity. A documentary filmmaker based in Pakistan, he works to tell stories where the environment meets the emotional, seeking out moments powerful enough to move us away from apathy to action. His work captures the intimate and often unseen lives of people navigating environmental and political change.

His debut film, When the Floods Come, won a BAFTA and was screened globally. He has contributed to major productions such as BBC’s Planet Earth III and worked extensively with WWF Pakistan and the UN to document wildlife, ecological changes and stories of survival across the country.

Nyal sees filmmaking as a bridge: a way to connect people across divides and awaken empathy. His mission is to help us better understand one another, and in doing so, better understand ourselves.

Deej Phillips is a British-Indian documentary filmmaker with over a decade of experience, known for his cinematic storytelling and focus on human resilience in the face of climate change. His work has been featured by BBC Studios, Channel 4 News, Deutsche Welle, Sky TV and more.

He directed the award-winning feature documentary The Weight of Water: Human Cost of Climate Crisis (2022), and the three-part series Forced to Adapt: India, released on WaterBear. He has also led branded films for BBC Storyworks, Google Health, World Energy Council and others.

www.deejphillipsfilms.com – hi@deejphillipsfilms.com

Bailey Thomas is an impact marketer with eight years' experience working with nonprofit and mission-led organisations to grow and connect with their audience in a meaningful way. Bailey has supported organisations tackling some of the worlds biggest challenges, including climate change, marine conservation, gender equality and biodiversity restoration. Collaborating with Deej Phillips Films to bring you Earth Flicks & Chill, Bailey brings a deep understanding of the fundraising sector, along with a life-long love of the nature through her adventures diving, surfing and travelling around the world.

www.baileyjlthomas.com

Alec Turnbull is Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Climate Film Festival, New York's first and largest film festival dedicated to climate cinema. He is also Co-Founder of Climate Tech Cities, the largest place-based climate tech community in the US. In his day job, Alec is an experienced executive, having worked on companies in media, renewable energy, building decarbonization, and climate finance.