As the Tide Comes In – Films

Før stormen

Juan Palacios & Sofie Husum Johannesen (co-director)
Denmark | 2023 | 88 min
Swiss Premiere
Languages : Danish, German
Subtitles : English, French

The 27 inhabitants of the marshy island of Mandø live separated from the mainland by tides, dreaded tourist visits and migrating birds. Among them is the farmer Gregers, on a quest to find a woman willing to live there with him... As a historic storm looms, the dilemma of departure is exacerbated, against an everyday backdrop blending poetry and humour.

No one is spared by climate change – particularly the twenty-seven residents of the tiny island of Mandø, a few kilometres off the Danish coast in the middle of the Wadden Sea. This windswept marshland now faces the imminent threat of rising sea levels. Despite the dangers, Gregers, the last farmer on the island, demonstrates unfailing resilience, adamantly refusing to abandon Mandø like a captain aboard his doomed ship. Palacios' eye recalls that of the great Romantic painters, from the stunning landscapes where nature rules supreme to the powerful note of melancholy that runs through his narrative, not to mention the symbols of ephemerality that the filmmaker introduces to serve as ominous portents. In the interstices of this small-scale tragedy, however, we discover an ordinary life where humour and poetry intermingle, whether it's the centenary of the island's oldest woman, the dreaded arrival of tourists, or the lamented departure of the birds.

James Berclaz-Lewis

Sofie Husum Johannesen
As the Tide Comes In, 2024
Juan Palacios
As the Tide Comes In, 2024
Hyperdough, 2019
Inland, 2019
Be a Hard Target, 2017
As the Jet Engine Recalls, 2016
Beekeepers in Glostrup, 2016
Pedaló, 2016