Documentary Feature

The Yup’ik village of Newtok, Alaska is crumbling into the water. Climate change has flooded the local homes and eroded the way of life for this small community, where the once nomadic indegenous people were forced to settle in 1949 by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. For more than two decades, the residents of Newtok have fought to secure federal funding needed to move their village to a safer location 10 miles away. With footage from four years living in the town, directors Andrew Burton and Michael Kirby Smith offer a window into this tight-knit community, and the challenges of a climate disaster. With long shots of melting ice, and intimate portraits of the people facing the threat of global warming every day, Newtok makes clear the impact climate change has on this country right now.