Jeff Orlowski

Jeff Orlowski is an American filmmaker. He is best known for both directing and producing the Emmy Award-winning documentary Chasing Ice (2012) and Chasing Coral (2017).

Born and raised in Staten Island, New York, Orlowski attended Stuyvesant High School where he served as editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, The Spectator. His senior year coincided with the attacks of September 11, 2001, and, under his leadership, the newspaper issued a special 24-page 9/11 insert containing student photos, reflections, and stories. On November 20, 2001, the magazine was distributed for free in 830,000 copies of The New York Times to the entire New York Greater Metropolitan Area.

At the age of 18, Orlowski moved to California to study anthropology at Stanford University. During this time, Orlowski directed and produced two short films—Geocaching: From the Web to the Woods (2006), which chronicles the rise of GPS treasure hunting as a popular hobby, and The Strange Case of Salman abd al Haaq (2007), a short fictional film about extraordinary rendition.

In his senior year at Stanford, he joined environmental photographer James Balog’s Extreme Ice Survey, a time-lapse photography project monitoring glacier retreat around the world. Hired first as the team’s videographer, he eventually went on to direct the documentary Chasing Ice based on Balog’s work.

The feature-length documentary received international acclaim, screening on all seven continents and capturing more than 40 awards from film festivals around the world. Chasing Ice also received a 2014 Emmy Award for Outstanding Nature Programming; the Sundance Film Festival Excellence in Cinematography Award for U.S. Documentary; an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song "Before My Time;" and a 2016 Doc Impact Award honoring documentary films that have made the greatest impact on society. The film was invited to screen at the White House, the United Nations, and the United States Congress.

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