Welcoming onboard AS THE TIDE COMES IN by Juan Palacios
We are thrilled to announce that we are coming on board to represent Juan Palacios‘ masterful feature documentary AS THE TIDE COMES IN, co-directed by Sofie Husum Johannesen, and produced by Copenhagen-based Elk Film!
As the Tide Comes In had its World Premiere at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam in November where it was part of the International Competition, followed by a Nordic Premiere at the 47th edition of Gothenburg Film Festival competing for the Dragon Award as part of the Nordic Documentary Competition.
As the Tide Comes In heads the CPH:DOX distribution branch DOX:DANMARK and will launch the festival’s 2024 program with a special preview on February 21 at Grand Teatret in Copenhagen and in nine other municipalities. On February 22, the film will officially premiere in cinemas in Denmark.
As the Tide Comes In is a portrait of the microcosm of life on the island of Mandø in the Danish Wadden Sea and its 27 residents. The tiny island is endangered by severe weather and flooding, exacerbated by climate change which now poses a serious existential threat to the community. However, the residents stubbornly cling to their identity as islanders, as they have done for generations.
Bojana Maric, Head of Sales and Acquisitions at Lightdox, comments: “We are thrilled to come on board and support Juan Palacios and Sofie Husum Johannesen’s exceptional work. We were immediately taken with the film, which stands out with its cinematic quality and subtle but powerful approach to the subject matter. As the Tide Comes In is as poetic and heartwarming as it is urgent and significant. A visually stunning piece of cinema that presents the reality of climate change and depopulation as it is happening now, right in the heart of Europe.”
The residents of Mandø are used to severe weather and flooding. Climate change has only made things worse. However, its last farmer, Gregers, whose family has lived there for eight generations, hasn’t given up in the face of the impending catastrophe. He refuses to build a life elsewhere and instead hopes to find a wife to manage the farm with him. As a storm is slowly approaching, Gregers and his faithful dog inspect the obsolete dikes that protect his beloved island. In the meantime, Mie blows out the candles of her 100th-year birthday cake, Ellen and Ingeborg complain about the moon disease they suffer from, birdwatcher Niels laments about the rare birds that don’t visit the island anymore, and tourist guide Preben tells stories, about how Mandø’s entire community was almost completely wiped out during a storm surge in 1634, to summer visitors who come and go on a daily basis. Despite the new threats from the rising sea, today’s current generation holds on steadfastly to their little part of the world.
“The film is an ode to this tough community and its tenacious residents. It shows these people’s love for a nature that gives them what they need but also takes from them what they don’t want to lose. It captures everything in outstanding cinematography and ties it all together in sublime editing.”
Nicole Santé, Business Doc Europe
As the Tide Comes In is produced by Kasper Lykke Schultz of Copenhagen-based Elk Film with support from the Danish Film Institute.