In the documentary “Shored Up,” scientists warn that with a rising sea level, a major storm could put New Jersey’s barrier islands underwater and create devastating storm surges. In other words, what happened last month when Superstorm Sandy slammed into New Jersey and New York.
For Ben Kalina, the Philadelphia filmmaker who was nearly finished putting together the documentary when the storm hit, it meant that the ideas in the film that may have sounded far-fetched — or at least, discussions of something that may happen sometime in the future — were suddenly immediate.
“Until Sandy, we were making a film about something much more meditative, really,” Kalina said. “And now the stakes are suddenly much more real.”
It also meant Kalina and his crew had more shooting to do, revisiting places they’d shot — some of which were wiped away by Sandy.
That again pushed back the completion date for a film he’d been working on for three years. He’s now planning to finish the film in January. It’s an independent effort that he is hoping will be shown on television. He is also planning to hold screenings, particularly in the places featured in the movie, such as New Jersey’s Long Beach Island.
Kalina, 36, is not a scientist, but he’s fascinated by telling the stories from science by looking at the cultural and political implications, too. He worked on “A Sea Change,” about the state of the world’s oceans, and “After the Cap,” a look back at the Gulf oil spill of 2010, among other films.
He became interested in the state of barrier islands after reading an article about how surfers opposed beach replenishment projects on the New Jersey shore.
The story became broader than that, evolving into a look at the way shore areas are developed and protected through means like jetties and beach replenishment projects. As more structures are built on barrier islands, he said, more has to be done to protect them. “Once you decide to settle in a place that’s so fraught, all the decisions you make have consequences and more consequences,” he said.
The solutions can be expensive, and Kalina says, not sustainable.
“Beach replenishment is not going to save the day,” he said. “You get this sense of security from beach replenishment that’s a false sense of security in the long run.”
The film uses animation, interviews with scientists, footage of storms past and some dramatic policy debates to tell the story.
Kalina started out focusing on New Jersey’s Long Beach Island, but also traveled to North Carolina. There, officials decided this year to use historical trends to build their expectations for oceanside building codes and land-use decisions rather than the more rapid sea-level rise that many scientists now expect.
The filmmaker, who grew up going to family homes on Martha’s Vineyard, said the ideal time to address these how best to develop vulnerable coastlines would be before a major storm, not after one.
The irony is that nothing can draw attention to the issue like a storm.
“It’s a window of time when people have actually just witnessed the destructive force of nature,” he said. “There are very few windows like that.”
And it could also be a window for his movie.
Before the storm, when he talked about it in his neighborhood in South Philadelphia, Kalina said, he found himself explaining what a barrier island is.
Now, practically everyone knows.
Oscar Nominees Delve Into The Art Of Editing At ACE Session
You couldn’t miss Sean Baker at this past Sunday’s Oscar ceremony where he won for Best Picture, Directing, Original Screenplay and Editing on the strength of Anora. However, earlier that weekend he was in transit from the Cesar Awards in Paris and thus couldn’t attend the American Cinema Editors (ACE) 25th annual panel of Academy Award-nominated film editors held at the Regal LA Live Auditorium on Saturday (3/1) in Los Angeles. While the eventual Oscar winner in the editing category was missed by those who turned out for the ACE “Invisible Art, Visible Artists” session, three of Baker’s fellow nominees were on hand--Dávid Jancsó, HSE for The Brutalist; Nick Emerson for Conclave; and Myron Kerstein, ACE for Wicked. Additionally, Juliette Welfling, who couldn’t appear in person due to the Cesar Awards, was present via an earlier recorded video interview to discuss her work on Emilia Pérez. The interview was conducted by ACE president and editor Sabrina Plisco, ACE who also moderated the live panel discussion. Kerstein said that he was the beneficiary of brilliant and generous collaborators, citing, among others, director Jon M. Chu, cinematographer Alice Brooks, and visual effects supervisor Pablo Helman. The editor added it always helps to have stellar acting performances, noting that hearing Cynthia Erivo, for example, sing live was a revelation. Kerstein recalled meeting Chu some eight years ago on a “blind Skype date” and it was an instant “bromance”--which began on Crazy Rich Asians, and then continued on such projects as the streaming series Home Before Dark and the feature In The Heights. Kerstein observed that Chu is expert in providing collaborators with... Read More