Filming in the Russian tundra
Documentary maker fulfils a lifelong ambition
Few places are as remote as the Russian wilderness.
It is a part of the world barely touched by civilisation: the land of snowcovered tundra, ice fields, and polar bears.
Just kilometres away from east-Siberian coastline, in the narrow Bering Strait ocean passage, are two dots of land – The Diomede Islands.
One the territory of Russia and the other the USA, the islands are closely protected by their governments and foreigners need special permission just to see them.
But Joshua Levy, 39, from Slough was given rare access to make a documentary film and fulfil a lifetime dream.
He said: “You see the beginning and the end of time because in between these islands is the international timeline.
“You will see an end of time in on one island and the beginning of time on the other.
“It’s just so beautiful and absolutely calm.”
Joshua said he had wanted to see polar bears since childhood but, following the coronavirus pandemic, most opportunities to reach
Arctic regions had stopped.
As countries shut down their borders, one route remained open through Russia.
Being a fluent Russian speaker, and having studied at a top Moscow university, Joshua was able to reach out to Russian Facebook groups for help oganising a visit.
He was granted permission to enter and after a nine-hour flight across the country, he reached the Chukotka region.
“I thought I would be leaving here [the UK] to go to this amazing place with people and towns but when I stepped off the plane it was us and the snow for miles,” said Joshua.
“A Boeing 767 in the middle of the snow, you realise you wouldn’t last two seconds in this place without the right stuff.”
Joshua, who has made documentaries on his visits to the radioactive Chernobyl power plant and war-torn Azerbaijani-Armenian Nagorno Karabash region, said this was his most intrepid expedition.
“We had snowstorms day and night for three days non-stop,” he said.
“Everything was frozen so when you drive anywhere you have to go by ice road – you really shake in you boots when you realise you are driving across the ocean.”
Despite battling the windswept conditions, Joshua didn’t see any polar bears but said just seeing the islands, and meeting the Inuit people that call them home, was worth the journey.
“Those people are so hardcore, they are some of the last remaining local Eskimo, Inuit, people,” said Joshua.
“They have the same traditional ways of dressing and the similar sorts of music and culture but yet they can’t see each other.”
He added: “Seeing the Diomede Island, that’s one hell of a lifetime achievement. The underlying theme of this movie is we are so close and yet we are so far.
“The Big Diomede and then the Small Diomede, they are so close – in terms of geography – but yet miles apart in actually getting between them.”
Joshua said he has plans to travel back to the region this September, to see the Islands from the Alaskan side of the Bering Strait.
To see his film Chukotka Russia’s Final Frontier visit: tinyurl.com/56hnu3jz