For generations, fishermen have made their home on Tangier Island, in the heart of the Chesapeake Bay on the east coast of the US. Two-thirds of the island has disappeared over the last 150 years, and local people are concerned about rising sea levels—and the lack of progress on reinforcing the sea wall—but the church remains the bedrock of this small, close-knit community.

Tangier Island is branded as “America’s first climate casualty”. Here in Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay, the climate is undeniably changing, but the cause remains contested. The residents belong to a historic evangelical Christian fishing community where their faith collides with rising waters.

The island has already lost two-thirds of its landmass since the 1850s. And now its residents are forced to face climate science. Through the islanders’ unwavering commitment to their religion and heritage, director David Usui sensitively asks audiences to consider their own collective struggle to reconcile inconvenient truths with comfortable beliefs.

Usui immersed himself within the vanishing community before filming, earning the trust needed to document three generations as they wrestle with an apocalyptic reality, including: a weathered waterman, a questioning college student, and a young fisherman inheriting traditions that may not survive another decade. After its world premiere at IDFA, this rewarding, revelatory observational meditation on denial and devotion makes its Canadian premiere at PIF. -PLANET IN FOCUS