Wisconsin Film Festival

Sun Come Up

plays with Fire, Burn, Babylon

(USA , Papua New Guinea, 2010, 38 mins, video)

Wisconsin Premiere

cinematographer: Tim Metzger
editor: David Teague
producer: Jennifer Redfearn, Tim Metzger
executive producer: Abigail Disney

The Carteret Islanders near Papua New Guinea have a dubious distinction — they are called the modern world’s first climate-change refugees. As global temperatures and sea levels rise, the ocean tides are washing away their shores and salt is seeping into their soil. Because of greenhouse gas emissions half a world away, this community of 1,700 people must forever abandon the only home they have ever known: scientists estimate that in five years their atoll in the Pacific Ocean will be uninhabitable. With the community facing hunger and failing rice crops, Ursula Rakova and other village leaders ask their youth, led by Nick Hakata, to find a new home. Traveling 50 miles across the sea, Nick and his friends seek land for homes and crops in neighboring Bougainville, in Papua New Guinea, just emerging from a 10-year civil war and suspicious of outsiders. San kamap (sun come up) is local pidgin for “sunrise,” and, indeed, this beautiful film does not portray the sunset of a people as much as their hope and resilience to persevere for another day. Nominee, 2011 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

Director Jennifer Redfearn scheduled to attend.

Presented by UW Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies.

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