Anote’s Ark
By Matthieu Rytz
2018, 77 min

Located right in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the minuscule island republic of Kiribati is one of the most isolated places on the planet but is today beginning to symbolise a challenge that the whole world will soon have to face: climate change. Swallowed by the sea, the islands that make up the country are ravaged by typhoons and being gradually eroded by inevitable rising waters. How can you ensure the survival of an entire people? While its inhabitants have already begun to seek refuge abroad, like Tiemeri, who decides to move her family to New Zealand, the President of Kiribati, Anote Tong, sets out on a crusade to save, if not the country, then at least its culture and to ensure dignified emigration conditions for its inhabitants. Matthieu Rytz followed these two protagonists for more than a year, accompanying Anote Tong to all four corners of the world, from the Vatican to Tokyo, from television show to international conference, in a fight that will determine the future of his nation. A poignant and much needed film.

Valentina e i MUOStri
By Francesca Scalisi
2024, 80 min

Niscemi, Sicily. A land that has become inhospitable, damaged by intensive agriculture, wildfires, and the MUOS, those impressive military telecommunications antennas emitting powerful electromagnetic waves. Besieged by these monsters, the inhabitants of Niscemi live on a complex land, destroyed by the interests of the capitalist world, yet one they continue to cherish. Filmmaker Francesca Scalisi focuses on one of them: almost 30 years old, Valentina still lives in her family home, both dependent on her family and caring for her sick father. When his health deteriorates and he can no longer drive, it is Valentina’s turn to get her licence and take control of her life. The crochet flowers she makes seem to herald a new spring. The filmmaker tells the story of an apparently ordinary life, kindly capturing Valentina’s actions, between reality and fiction, visible and invisible, prosaic and wondrous. A delicate tale of emancipation rooted in a land both ravaged and loved.

As the Tide Comes In
By Juan Palacios & Sofie Husum Johannesen
2023, 89 min

No one is spared by climate change, particularly the twenty-seven residents of the tiny island of Mandø, a few kilometres off the Danish coast in the middle of the Wadden Sea. This windswept marshland now faces the imminent threat of rising sea levels. Despite the dangers, Gregers, the last farmer on the island, demonstrates unfailing resilience, adamantly refusing to abandon Mandø like a captain aboard his doomed ship. Palacios’ eye recalls that of the great Romantic painters, from the stunning landscapes where nature rules supreme to the powerful note of melancholy that runs through his narrative, not to mention the symbols of ephemerality that the filmmaker introduces to serve as ominous portents. In the interstices of this small-scale tragedy, however, we discover an ordinary life where humour and poetry intermingle, whether it’s the centenary of the island’s oldest woman, the dreaded arrival of tourists, or the lamented departure of the birds.