Films focus on plight of Arctic residents

Indigenous people fighting to preserve their ancient Arctic lifestyles and the very ground under their feet are the focus of a series of feature films at this year's Berlin Film Festival.

Documentarians are taking a cold, hard look at the plight of tribes on the frontlines of climate change in the icy northern latitudes of Scandinavia, Siberia, Alaska, Canada, Iceland and Greenland.

The common theme is the twin threat faced by native peoples who have traditionally herded reindeer, or hunted seals and whales, before nation states put them into permanent towns and their children into residential schools.