Mike Magidson is a multi-award-winning film writer, director, and producer based in France. For over 25 years, his films have focused on stories that visually explore humanity's place in the natural world, and more particularly, the Arctic.

Born in San Francisco, Mike spent his childhood roaming the California hills, inspired by the adventurous spirit of his favorite authors, Jack London, Mark Twain, and Henry David Thoreau. After studying International Relations at University of California-Berkeley, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue his passion for cinema. Yet, while honing his craft alongside directors such as Sean Penn and Ridley Scott, he quickly realized that the stories he sought to tell were in lands far from Hollywood. Relocating to Paris in the 1990s, Mike began traveling the globe, documenting indigenous communities whose lives remain deeply connected to nature. From the Australian outback to Canada's boreal forests, and the Siberian tundra to Panama's Darién Jungle, his work consistently offers a window into the world's most extraordinary environments — as seen through the eyes of those who have always called them home.

One place, above all, continues to call him back: Greenland. Mike shot his first Greenlandic film, Ice School , in Uummannaq during the winter of 2000. Captivated by the landscapes and the warmth of the local people, he has returned nearly every year since. Collaborating closely with Greenlandic communities, he has now made seven films there, including Inuk , the country's official submission to the 85th Academy Awards. His most recent film, The Secret Life of Icebergs , continues this journey — a personal and cinematic exploration of a land that transformed his view of the world. “Greenland,” Mike says, “and its generous people changed me in ways I could never have imagined. It's now my hope to share even a small part of what these beautiful people and their magnificent land have taught me.”

Languages ​​spoken: French and English