I watched Rebellion because I knew about Extinction Rebellion. I watched High Tide Don’t Hide because I knew nothing about Aotearoa.

In 2018, Greta Thunberg became a household name and photographs of her sign reading Skolstrejk för Klimatet spurred a movement among young people. The School Strike for Climate (SS4C) movement quickly went global with students from around the world joining her protest. Although young people have long been involved in climate action, Greta Thunberg achieved new levels of virality. High Tide Don’t Hide follows the School Strike for Climate - New Zealand (SS4C-NZ) movement throughout 2019 when they participated in three global strikes.

Opening in the low-lying town of Thames, we are introduced to sights of rising sea levels in early 2019. As Aotearoa is an island, rising sea levels and storms are a significant concern as residential areas are at risk of flooding. Rising sea levels throughout Polynesia are the primary incentive for climate action among those we meet in High Tide. The film is framed through video logs created by the five featured activists, Lillian Balfour & Helena Mayer (Thames), Sophie Handford (Paekākāri/Wellington), Luke Wijohn (Auckland), Aigagalefili Fepulea’i-Tapua’i (South Auckland), and on-the-ground footage filmed by The Rebel Film Collective. Through this, we can understand not only the action but also the emotional impact experienced by youth involved in activism. 

One of the major themes in the documentary is the whitewashing of climate activism. Aotearoa, as a colonized country, has a primarily European population, however, the nation is home to Maori Indigenous people (around 16.5% of the whole population) and over 300,000 people of Pacific Islander descent. It is, as discussed in the documentary, Pasifika people and the Pacific Islands themselves that are most at risk from the effects of climate change as the Islands are flooding and towns are having to be vacated as they become uninhabitable. One of the main activists we follow throughout the documentary is Aigagalefili Fepulea’i-Tapua’i (known as Fili) who is Pasifika living in South Auckland, an area that is largely home to Pasifika people, as opposed to the city of Auckland which has a higher European population. She organizes a group at her school called 4 Tha Kulture (4TK) which focuses on climate action among Pasifika students. Fili and 4TK join SS4C after the second global strike (May 24, 2019). She spoke on national TV about how the strike had not included enough Pasifika people, especially as it had been held on the first day of Polyfest, an important event for Pasifika students. “Why are there no brown voices in these conversations and on these committees when these issues are affecting us and our families and our homelands?” Fili questions after the second global climate strike on The Project. After this, the Auckland chapter of SS4C-NZ posted on their social media apologies for their white-washing and racism and reached out to T4K to involve them more wholly in their work. Not only does this film address how the consequences of climate change are racialized, but also the action taken by groups such as SS4C. For instance, members of 4TK express concern at the proposal of civil disobedience due to being more likely to be arrested and charged than their white counterparts. The lack of diversity in climate action groups is an issue across the world, it is often a cause seen as something for the white middle-class, but despite this, marginalized and racialized communities and people are often the most impacted. Since this film was produced the Auckland chapter of SS4C has disbanded due to issues with racism and tokenization within the group.

All three of the global strike days were exceptionally well attended in Auckland and Wellington with thousands of people attending to help shut down streets and make noise. Sophie in Wellington talks about how she was shocked by the first turnout and found it hard to keep track of what was happening. Whilst Fili, Luke, and Sophie live in major cities, we also see the experience of action organizing in smaller towns. Thames has a population of around 7000 people. Lillian and Helena show how action in their town looks less like city-wide marches with thousands of people but rather 200 people holding the line outside their local council. “It's important to have one [march] in Thames, because it shows it isn’t just going to affect people in Auckland, it's not just going to affect the people in Wellington, it's not just going to affect the people in Europe,” says Helena. This is important as smaller towns can often be discouraged due to concerns surrounding small turnout and lack of impact, but High Tide demonstrates that action is important everywhere. One key issue Lillian and Helena come up against is the lack of engagement by their Council regarding climate action; they lobby for their Council to sign onto the Local Government Leaders' Climate Change Declaration but find their Mayor unwilling. We even hear that Mayor Sandra Goudie will not admit that climate change is real, rather saying, “the climate changes all the time” When asked if she believes climate change is real she responded, “I haven’t said that.” 

In watching this film and researching for this review I feel I have learnt a lot. I was very unfamiliar with the specific issues facing Aotearoa and the people living there so it has been enlightening to find out what issues they face. However, there were also a number of themes that I have become very familiar with over the past five years as my interest in climate action has grown. This film has some issues close to my heart. As someone who lived in a coastal town in Wales, I know that my town is at risk too.

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The 2023 ReFrame Festival runs from January 26th-February 3rd. A list of films, tickets to events and screenings, and more information can be found on the Festival Website.