For two decades Holly Morris has told, and championed, pro-woman, cross-cultural stories on the global stage. She is an internationally known filmmaker, author, and presenter. Her last feature film, “The Babushkas of Chernobyl” premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival, where it won the Jury Award for Directing— the first of nearly two dozen awards received before being broadcast world-wide. The film’s story, based on her print journalism, is about a defiant community of women who live inside Ukraine’s radioactive “Exclusion Zone” and also is the basis of her popular TED Talk.

“Exposure” starts screening at the 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival on November 13. The fest runs from November 10-28.

W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.

HM: As the Arctic polar ice cap melts, reaching the North Pole has become increasingly dangerous, but an expedition of women from the Arab World and the West, led by explorer Felicity Aston, have set an audacious goal of skiing to the North Pole. This daring and unprecedented group navigates through everything from frostbite and polar bear threats, to sexism and self-doubt in an intimate story of resilience, survival, and global citizenry— in what may be the last-ever over-ice expedition to the top of the world.

W&H: What drew you to this story?

HM: Diverse, global, feminist stories that unfold in the crucible/elixir of the natural world have been my wheelhouse for a couple decades. So when I heard that this group was teaming up for an over-ice expedition to the top of the world, I just knew a film had to be made. It was clear right away that this expedition was unprecedented — a first in so many ways. In the end, several of the women became the first from their nations to reach the North Pole.

The stakes were very high from the get go. Given the climate crisis, I also knew this team might be among the last, ever, to have a real shot at reaching the North Pole. Indeed, the season after their expedition, climate change and geopolitical conflict between Ukraine and Russia meant ice station Barneo could not be built, cancelling all attempts at the pole. Then, in 2020 and 2021, COVID-19 wiped out the polar season before it even started.

W&H: What do you want people to think about after they watch the film?

HM: I believe that when women come to fully believe in ourselves, especially in action and outdoors, it can be catalytic. We can take the reins, work across boundaries of all kinds, and lead a way into a future where we adapt, with compassion and equity, to the changing climate. Ideally, these are some of the things folks are thinking about after they watch the film or maybe the’ve just enjoyed a well-told, character-driven adventure film!

W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?

HM: Ours was the most ambitious North Pole production I’m aware of— no dogs, no snowmobiles, no support, no men. Our all-women film team including heroic cinematographers Ingeborg Jakobsen and Kathryn Barrows shooting in -39F weather (no generators out there). My vision was to shoot 100% vérité, no narration. We used multiple 4K cameras, including a drone and 360 units, but we had a very limited budget.

The film team was skiing as well— struggling over a dangerous semi-frozen Arctic. The team pulled sledges full of equipment, trading off as necessary— one would pull while the other would shoot. Mic-ing and monitoring a team of eleven women when they are so covered up is difficult to know who’s who, never mind what they are saying. This made it incredibly challenging to figure out story points. This was the case in the Iceland (and Oman) trainings as well. Audio was a constant issue to be solved, grappling with cold and the incessant hiss of camp stoves which could not be turned off because they were literally the difference between life and death. Oh, and in the Arctic there was the possibility of a polar bear attack… Surely this production hazard was not covered by key-“man” insurance.

W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made. 

HM: Three investors; a half dozen significant donors (tax-deductible through our fiscal sponsor, Women Make Movies); 50 grant applications yielding four successful infusions of grant money (Rogovy, NY Women’s Fund, The Redford Center, NY State Council for the Arts). Of course, sweat equity and this project gave new meaning to that term.

The cinematographers were the real heroines of this story. How they skied backwards and filmed at the same was next level, giving rise to sub-zero Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire analogies.

W&H: What inspired you to become a filmmaker? 

HM: I thought taking my political ideas and passions—and commitment to traditionally excluded voices— to the screen would create an opportunity for exponential impact. In my early career I was a writer and book editor; my move into film was about amplifying impact.

W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?  

HM: The most memorable advice I ever got was from my grandmother who impressed upon me that all good stories must have Religion, Royalty, Sex and Mystery, and also be delivered in the most efficient package possible. “Exposure” has 3 of the 4. Not bad.

W&H: What advice do you have for other women directors?

HM: Never wear-open toed shoes because you’ll always be kicking your foot in the door. Steel-toed boots will hold you in good stead.

W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.

HM: The good news must be that I find myself thinking less about that kind of thing than ever because our numbers really are shooting up. Historically, anything by writer and director Jane Campion but I can’t wait for Phoebe Waller-Bridge to write/direct/release her first feature.

W&H: How are you adjusting to life during the COVID-19 pandemic? Are you keeping creative, and if so, how?

HM: Luckily “Exposure” was all shot when the pandemic descended on all of us, so being relatively alone in a little dark room felt just about right. My creativity has taken a massive hit. I’m not one of those folks who dug deep and discovered my creative well. I sunk into cable news and was in a daze for a year, just now coming back to life.

W&H: The film industry has a long history of underrepresenting people of color onscreen and behind the scenes and reinforcing— and creating— negative stereotypes. What actions do you think need to be taken to make the doc world more inclusive?

HM: How about if women, and women of color specifically, control the narratives and the purse strings. That sounds like the sure-fire path toward equity.