Family Tides is a documentary media and outreach project that aims to accelerate the conversation about sea level rise and climate change. The project encompasses a documentary film, live projection events, short form media, and an outreach and engagement campaign supporting clean energy solutions and climate justice.

Film

The centerpiece of the project is Family Tides, a feature documentary film that tells on-the-ground stories of people grappling with sea level rise in some of the most vulnerable locations in the US — starting with the filmmakers’ own family. The film will have verité, educational, and personal documentary elements.

Live Projection Events

As part of the film, we are partnering with established projection artists and local organizing groups to mount interactive public art events, that invite the public to engage in dialogue and activism around climate change-related sea level rise. These events will be filmed for the documentary, will directly engage the public, and will provide earned media coverage for the issue.

Short Form Media

In advance of the full film, we will release short, quick turn-around content responding to unfolding events, and supporting the ongoing work of NGO partners. This content may include interviews with experts, activists, and policymakers, discussions with local residents, compelling visuals, and examples of inspiring activism.

Impact

In addition to mainstream film distribution — including television, home video and theatrical — we will screen the film for students, faith communities, and policymakers, and we will help these audiences dialogue with each other, and raise their voices to demand equitable long-term solutions.

PERSONNEL

DIRECTOR ADAMS J. WOOD is an award-winning Director, Producer, and DP with a focus on conservation and social justice filmmaking. His feature documentary ON COAL RIVER (directed with Francine Cavanaugh, 2010) premiered at AFI/Silverdocs, and was official selection of over 30 film festivals including Hamptons International Film Festival, Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, and MountainFilm in Telluride. Nominated for an IFP/Gotham Award, the film aired on Outside Television, screened on Capitol Hill, and went on to screen in over 70 cities across the US. His previous film, BOOM - THE SOUND OF EVICTION (directed with Francine Cavanaugh and A. Mark Liiv, 2002) followed the social repercussions of San Franciscoʼs original dot-com boom and bust. Adams has contributed to conservation film projects with Greenpeace, Sierra Club, EarthJustice, and the Environmental Defense Fund. In 2015 he was a contributor on the Robert Redford-produced documentary series OCEAN WARRIORS. Adams graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1994.

PRODUCER MARIA D. WOOD returned to school in 2014 as a non-traditional student at Smith College, and was elected President of Smith’s Ada Comstock Scholars class in 2016. After graduating in 2018, she served as Deputy Campaign Manager for Maryland Congressional candidate Jesse Colvin. After a childhood spent on—and in—the Chester River on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Maria managed nationally-known children’s band David Grover & the Big Bear Band from 1991 through 2003, and served as Director of independent record company Big Bear Music. She co-founded the National Children’s Music Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to developing and implementing education and enrichment programs in music and the humanities for children and families. She has served as President of this organization since 2011. Maria has worked on dozens of award-winning projects including producing the hour-long documentary and concert film WE’RE ALL AMERICANS, which received a Parents’ Choice Gold Award among many others, and BORN AN INDIAN MAN by Lakota singer-songwriter Jim Young.  

PROJECTION PRODUCER Mark Read is an artist, educator and activist based in Brooklyn, New York. Collaborative processes, interventionist strategies and public engagement are at the heart of his creative practices. In 2012 he initiated The Illuminator, an artist-activist collective that utilizes guerrilla video projection as its primary strategy for staging creative interventions in public spaces. The Illuminator has exhibited at several galleries and conferences, including the Brooklyn Museum (AgitProp, 2014), and the Hemispheric Institute (Encuentros in 2014 and 2016). Mark has presented widely on his work, including at conferences such as Open Engagement, the Hemispheric Institute Encuentro, and the Visual Legal Advocacy Roundtable at UPenn. He has written for publications such as Public Art Dialogue and Visual Inquiry.