BEFORE THE ICE MELTS

An underdog women’s ice hockey team defies tradition and climate change, as they try to skate from obscurity in the Himalayas to international acclaim.

Set against the breathtaking Himalayan landscape, Before the Ice Melts follows the journey of Diskit Angmo, a young woman from a remote Indian mountain village, and her teammates on the newly formed India Women’s National Ice Hockey Team. For the team, hockey is more than a sport—it’s a lifeline.

High up in the Himalayan mountain range at 11,483 feet, is team’s home: Leh, Ladakh. There are no indoor rinks, which means the team relies on naturally frozen lakes as their practice rinks. They train exclusively outdoors in unforgiving and grueling winter conditions. In recent years, the winter season has shrunk from four months to only two, drastically reducing their practice time on the ice. Climate change is deeply felt in each short season in Leh as the lakes freeze over later and melt earlier, further constraining the team’s already limited training opportunities.

Competing internationally, the India Women’s National Ice Hockey Team emerged in 2016 as an underdog. The women have spent years fighting to prove that women can play ice hockey in India and now they continue to fight for recognition on the global stage, hoping that each match will be another step toward their Olympic dreams.

Through Diskit’s journey, Before the Ice Melts, will poignantly illustrate the urgent, real-world consequences of a rapidly changing environment and the ripple effects on those who have the least power to stop it. At its core, this film is a tribute to underdog stories everywhere — for these women, the fight isn’t just about winning games. It’s about preserving a dream before the ice, quite literally, melts away.