The Forgotten Pacific

Synopsis

The Forgotten Pacific follows Samoan climate leader Suluafi Brianna Fruean across the Pacific Ocean as she shares stories of the Pacific Climate Warriors, young activists leading their communities amid growing threats of climate change. The film presents the climate crisis across multiple levels of scale, crafting a trans-Pacific narrative rooted in each island’s specific struggles—from coral bleaching to king tides and rising sea levels. Director Elizabeth Koroivulaono situates these crises within global structures of colonialism and capitalism, highlighting intersecting injustices while refusing narratives of victimhood. Woven together by Brianna’s powerful poetic reflections, the film meditates on the profundity of loss and the possibilities of regeneration. Koroivulaono offers an Indigenous and youth-led perspective on the climate crisis, uplifting their collective leadership, creative resistance, and commitment to protecting their people’s futures.

Distribution

The Coconet TV
Contact: thecoconet.tv@gmail.com
Full film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvCMGuIy79A&t=1447s 

 

We decided to make a film about the climate crisis, but centered around the people who are on the ground, centered around the landscape. We’re trying to protect the ocean, the land, the sea, the sky. To tell people why this is so precious to us, how our roots are in this land and in this ocean, and how our ancestors have protected it. It was a matter of showing a different face of the fight.