Holding Back the Tide

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Holding Back the Tide

2024

1h 17m

Documentary

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5 Reviews

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Holding Back the Tide is an impressionistic hybrid documentary that traces the oyster through its many life cycles in New York, once the world's oyster capital. Now their specter haunts the city through queer characters embodying ancient myth, discovering the overlooked history and biology of the bivalve that built the city. As environmentalists restore them to the harbor, we look to the oyster as a queer icon, entangled with nature, with much to teach about our continued survival.

Alissa Wilkinson

New York Times

09/09/2024

"Holding Back the Tide" is something entirely different, and it's wonderful.

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Marya E. Gates

Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack)

10/11/2024

The film is both an elegy for the past and a proclamation of what the future could hold, should we choose to embrace ecology over greed and conservation over rampant consumerism.

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Paul Emmanuel Enicola

The Movie Buff

10/05/2024

B-

“Holding Back the Tide” is far from perfect, but it offers a bold vision that challenges viewers to think differently about the relationship between ecology and identity.

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Luke Gorham

In Review Online

09/09/2024

Only a fool would prefer a lecture, and if [it]’s greatest sin is that it leverages its aesthetic framework toward overly ornamental ends, its experimental and experiential virtues are still far too rare in documentary cinema’s increasingly literal world.

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Christopher Campbell

Nonfics (Substack)

09/07/2024

One of the most unique documentaries I’ve seen this year...at times it feels like an overly ambitious art project, but overall it’s also a revelation.

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Emily Packer

Director

Emily Packer

Screenwriter

Josh Margolis

Screenwriter

Emily Packer

Producer

Josh Margolis

Producer

Trey Tetreault

Producer

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Holding Back the Tide: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

Holding Back the Tide is an impressionistic hybrid documentary that traces the oyster through its many life cycles in New York, once the world's oyster capital. Now their specter haunts the city through queer characters embodying ancient myth, discovering the overlooked history and biology of the bivalve that built the city. As environmentalists restore them to the harbor, we look to the oyster as a queer icon, entangled with nature, with much to teach about our continued survival.

Director: Emily Packer
Producer: Emily Packer, Josh Margolis, Trey Tetreault, Benjamin Stillerman, Liz Beeson
Screenwriter: Emily Packer, Josh Margolis
Distributor: Grasshopper Film
Production Co: Marginal Gap Films
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 6, 2024, Limited
Runtime: 1h 17m