Coastal Management and Access

In these films, coasts and coastal areas emerge as sites of contestation between those who live by and with the ocean, and those who seek to reduce the ocean to a source of profit. The people in these stories share intimate connections to the ocean and its shores, in ways that shape their relations with ancestors, coastal plants and animals, and each other. And yet, as these films show, coastal access often depends more on capitalist interests and colonial histories than people’s long-standing roots in place. The films in this section tell the stories of people who fight to protect their lands and waters, elevating their everyday labor of organizing and resistance. In the process, they unsettle the concept of coastal “management,” offering other ways of sustaining, caring for, and living with the ocean.