As the Tide Comes In

On an island of eight square kilometers on the open seas of the Danish Wadden Sea, within a tidal zone of the North Sea, its remaining 27 residents are completely in tune with nature’s vibrations. However, they still find themselves constantly fearing the destruction looming (quite literally) on the horizon. Even though everyday life in Mandø has always been dependent on the appetites of the savage weather, the island used to be the ultimate tourist destination for numerous naturalists from all over the world, as it was home to a rare bird species. Nowadays, as sea levels rise and extreme weather phenomena accompany climate change, the human species seems to have flown away – but then the soul of the place and its people still thrives in its particular way. The Scandinavian natural landscape and its human counterpart have been captured only but a handful of times in recent cinema history in such an evocative and intricate manner, whereas the snapshots of the everyday life of the generation that lives on the island is already part of world film anthology.