Search Speaker Bureau
The Speakers Bureau is a directory of arctic researchers and experts that are available to visit organizations, communities or schools to give presentations. The directory contains names, addresses, science specialties, and presentation experience.
We encourage organizations and communities applying to the Arctic Visiting Speakers Series to use the Speakers Bureau to select a visiting speaker. If a particular subject or speaker is not listed, please contact Judy Fahnestock at avs [at] arcus [dot] org, for suggested speakers.
Arthur Smith III
About:
Dynamic, cinematic imagery replaces the abstraction of the Arctic with visual reality.
A lifelong photographer and resident arctic filmmaker since 2004, Arthur lives on Alaska's Barter Island, in the Inupiat Eskimo village of Kaktovik. He specializes in the genres of documentary and natural history filmmaking for theatrical, broadcast, and interpretive applications. An artist bearing witness to life and change in the far north, Arthur's goal is to inspire appreciation, understanding, and conservation of arctic regions through film.
Life is animated. Yet, statistics, studies, sound bites, and still photographs shape many people's understanding of life in the Arctic. Bringing the place "alive" on screen complements the research of polar experts in other disciplines by demystifying the far north and providing visual context for understanding a place often beset by abstraction and stereotype. As an image-maker and resident of an Inupiat community, Arthur's experience—and portrayal-- of the north and its people is authentic, founded in valued relationships many years in the making.
An independent filmmaker, Arthur uses cutting-edge tools to bring the Arctic to audiences worldwide. Digital cinema—a rapidly growing technology-- is revolutionizing, and democratizing, the way in which images meet the screen. At "4.5K," digital cinema exceeds the technical standards of high-definition fourfold. Liberating the superior quality of 35mm film from the analog medium has profound implications for natural history and documentary filmmakers. Using Hollywood-grade cinema technology, Arthur's capacity to translate the Arctic is on par with the epic scale of the place itself.
Arthur has received many awards for his work, especially his 2008 natural history documentary about Alaska polar bears, Ice Bears of the Beaufort. Two other works in production include: Bears of the Last Frontier, a two-part PBS "Nature" program for which Arthur provided cinematography from Alaska's eastern and western arctic; and Heaven's Shore, a short cultural documentary produced at the invitation of the mayor of Kaktovik, Alaska. His work has also appeared on National Geographic Explorer, National Geographic Films, and the Discovery Channel.
Representative presentation titles include:
(Each presentation includes an A/V component. For interested hosts, Arthur will provide equipment specs to ensure a high-quality viewing experience for audiences.)
- Far North Filmmaking: Technical & Practical Aspects of Working "On-Location" in Arctic Alaska
- The Digital Cinema Frontier: A Revolution in Natural History Filmmaking
- Shot-by-Shot: The Making of an Arctic Movie
