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Holding Back the Tide

Play trailer 1:30 Poster for Holding Back the Tide 2024 1h 17m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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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.

Critics Reviews

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Alissa Wilkinson New York Times 09/09/2024
"Holding Back the Tide" is something entirely different, and it's wonderful. Go to Full Review 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. Go to Full Review 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. Go to Full Review 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. Go to Full Review 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. Go to Full Review Read all reviews
Holding Back the Tide

My Rating

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Cast & Crew

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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

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Holding Back the Tide

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Movie Info

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