The Republic of Kiribati, a group of 33 Pacific Islands home to 100,000 people, sits on average six feet above sea level. Scientists believe that at some point this century, these islands may become uninhabitable as ocean levels rise due to climate change. The film Anote’s Ark, showing at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival in New York, tells Kiribati’s story through the eyes of now-former president Anote Tong, as he advocates with world leaders for help for his people, and a Kiribati woman named Sermary, who emigrates with her family to New Zealand after her home floods. Amy Braunschweiger talked with the filmmaker, Matthieu Rytz, about his film and his attachment to a country that may soon no longer exist.
Anote Tong, then president of Kiribati, swims in the lagoon near his home. |
How did you meet President Tong?
I had chartered a plane to take aerial photographs, and the pilot was a close friend of his, and he introduced us. I was quite shy. He was a head of state that knew that within a century, he won’t have a state anymore. What’s a bigger challenge than that? I just spontaneously asked him about making this movie. And he said yes. I had never made a movie before, never even done a short film. So I figured, “OK let’s do this, let’s figure out how to make a film.” It was the start of a four-year journey.
When I learned he would meet with the pope, I flew to the Vatican and met him. I did that whenever he met heads of state, was at the UN Human Rights Council, or any important moment. I basically covered every important meeting he had for the whole three years. I can tell you, in this political arena, the action is really fast and extremely boring. You go there, shake hands with Obama, and that’s it. It’s waiting hours and hours for the next meeting.
What’s your relationship like with Tong?
I was a one-man show, and because I was just a regular guy with a camera, I got more and more access. It got to the point where I was sharing dinner and having wine with him. Now we have almost like a grandfather-grandson relationship.
When I look back over the past five years, I see how I tried to keep my professional distance from the story, and I wonder, what just happened? How in the world did a Swiss white guy just become so close to the president of Kiribati?
What is Tong like in person?
You go to his home, what you’ll discover is that he is a traditional fisherman, living in a simple house with his grandchildren. There is only cold water. He spends his days on the lagoon fishing, and at night he spends time with his family and tells stories. He’s an elder respected by the community, and he drinks Kava, a traditional drink, and has a very important relationship to the spiritual world. So, he’s a mix of a traditional fisherman and something like a shaman. You would never ever think of him as the same guy hanging out with the pope. It’s an incredible contrast.
Trailer for the movie Anote’s Ark, an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival 2018.
Through Sermary you can understand the legacy of the people in Kiribati and what they’re going through. They have this program called “Pacific access category.” Every year they pick 75 people from Kiribati, a bit like a lottery, and those people can migrate to New Zealand. I basically got in touch with one of my friends in Kiribati who had contacts with the high commissioner, and from them I got the list of people who had won. All people still living in Kiribati who in a year or two would be in New Zealand. Sermary She was the first person I called. I just knew she was perfect.
There is only one road in Kiribati, and it’s 23 kilometers long. That’s the only place on Kirbati with a few cars. In another scene we cut from the movie, Sermary and her friend drive out of the airport and into an Auckland suburb. Sermary looks at the houses and asks, “Why are there so many classrooms in this country?” In Kiribati, the only buildings with walls are classrooms, built by the church. People there don’t live in houses. And I think that’s an important perspective. All their lives they didn’t have walls. And they don’t have worry about the rent or buying food. There’s nothing to buy on the islands, although they do trade some coconuts for tea or sugar. When I was there, I wanted a cup of tea, and the vendor asked me for half a coconut. I only had an Australian dollar and offered it to him, but he had no use for the money. And I thought, ”Wow.” Leaving this culture is an incredible life change.
For me, this is the very point of the movie. Tong says again and again, “Climate change should not be a political issue.” Meanwhile, politicians play their electoral games. In Australia, in Kiribati, politicians deny the existence of climate change to win some votes, and they’re playing with the future of this planet. The story of Kiribati is a warning to the rest of humanity. It’s too late for Kiribati. It’s too late for Manhattan, too. It’s just a question of time. And a very important question is, how are you going to deal with that? For me, the main point about the movie is not “Kiribati is going under water so I should take action and buy a Tesla and it’s going to be better.” It’s way deeper than that. What we need now is a real paradigm shift. It’s a question of re-connecting to our land and the nature around us. And that’s something Tong is deeply concerned with. We are basically disconnected and the climate is in crisis.
Because I respect nature. For me, the first director of this film is nature and the island itself. It has its own voice. Climate change movies in general are dramatic and fast and show destruction. It’s easy to show these powerful images. But they don’t resonate for me. For me, climate change is much more subtle. Like erosion. It takes time, but it’s happening. Take the example of Manhattan. Every day, every single day, some rock is worn away. It’s not dramatic. And it will eventually destroy everything. It’s deep and subtle and unstoppable.
Meanwhile, though, Kiribati has a new president who has undone many of Tong’s climate-oriented policies.
This new government are basically climate deniers. I think they took the climate-denier position to get elected. I went with my partner to Kiribati over Christmas, and I took my projector and my laptop and started showing the movie in different communities. The people loved the movie. But I was stopped by immigration and the police and they took my laptop and projector, and we were deported. I cannot go back now. But the thing is, when this happened the UN Ambassador from Kiribati in New York sent an official letter to the Sundance Film Festival, asking them to take the movie. And they did.
Sermary plays with her baby in Kiribati. Sermary and her family, who move to New Zealand, are featured in the movie Anote’s Ark. © Matthieu Rytz |
Sermary is good. The Kiribati have such a powerful community, they just stay together and hang out together in Auckland. I was with them two weeks ago, and it was beautiful. It could be better of course, but they have a good life there. If I had scripted the movie, and said at the end, Sermary would have a baby in New Zealand, and we would film her saying to her baby, “Are you a Kiwi?” I would say it’s too much. But that happened. I didn’t want the movie to have a positive end, but it’s just life, and it goes on.
Is there anything else you’d like to say?
For me, the next question will be climate justice, and who has access to these funds and resources. Which is why this movie belongs in a human rights film festival.
Links
- Don't Turn To The Military To Solve The Climate-Change Crisis
- New Documentaries Bring Climate Change To The Big Screen
- Climate Change An 'Existential Security Risk' To Australia, Senate Inquiry Says
- Climate Change To Drive Migration From Island Homes Sooner Than Thought
- 'We Share The Same Backyard': The Islands Disappearing Off Australia
- Panacea for the Pacific? Evaluating Community-Based Climate Change Adaptation
- No Children Because Of Climate Change? Some People Are Considering It
- This Picture Book About Climate Change Won’t Freak Your Kids Out
- Climate Change Will Displace Millions In Coming Decades. Nations Should Prepare Now To Help Them
- 'Existential Threat': Climate Change Risks Finally Grab Australia's Attention
- A Poison In Our Island
- An Island Nation Turns Away From Climate Migration, Despite Rising Seas
- Many Small Island Nations Can Adapt To Climate Change With Global Support
- U.N. Climate Projects, Aimed At The Poorest, Raise Red Flags
- Pacific Island Nations Urge World Leaders To Act As Islands Expected To Sink
- How To Save Humanity: 15,000 Scientists Urge Action Before 'Vast Human Misery' Takes Over
- Fiji Told It Must Spend Billions To Adapt To Climate Change
- Fiji Brings First-Hand Experience With Effects Of Climate Change To UN Summit
- A Proposal In New Zealand Could Trigger The Era Of ‘Climate Change Refugees’
- Waiting For The Tide To Turn: Kiribati's Fight For Survival
- Eight Low-Lying Pacific Islands Swallowed Whole By Rising Seas
- The Drowning Isles: A Story Of Climate Change In The South Pacific
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