2024 International Documentary Festival Amsterdam: Been Here Stay Here Review

The most severe internal conflict in confronting global threats begins with the (in)visibility of the enemy. How do you trust in the certainty of an impending catastrophe, larger than yourself, life, and perception? Things get especially complex when, due to physical or temporal distance, we’re granted just enough space to speculate, imagine, and even drape the threat in dystopian narratives. These narratives come with a host of implications—legal and, of course, political. The answer, naturally, is that you don’t. You don’t trust it.

Call it a lack of understanding, resources, or simply perspective. Yet, collectively, we have established long-standing methods for dealing with the known unknown. These methods, though they may progressively and eventually lead to facts, begin with interrogating the validity of the threat and reckoning with the discomfort of owning the insight. That’s when belief systems come into play.

Here lies something that, personally, has been perpetually disturbing: the difference between the notion of climate change and the reality of the climate crisis. The former, a neutral term, implies a shift, a natural progression—a circle of circles of life; the latter, polarizing and unpopular, speaks of entropy and obliteration. While mass media and daily conversations shy away from the urgency of “crisis,” the reality on the ground tells a different story. This constitutional difference is central to Been Here Stay Here, the latest documentary by Brooklyn-based filmmaker David Usui.

Set on Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, Usui’s film examines a place on the brink of extinction. With fewer than 500 residents, Tangier is one of many low-lying islands threatened by rising sea levels and land subsidence. Here, homes and lives are built precariously on shifting sand dunes, vulnerable to the next storm or tide. The island has already lost five of its original seven towns to the sea, leaving behind empty lots and skeletal remains of what once was.

Usui’s camera takes in this disappearing world with painterly curiosity, blending contemporary footage with archival VHS tapes. The result is a temporal collage that makes the island’s slow demise feel both immediate and timeless. But Usui avoids falling into despair or heavy-handed activism; instead, his film maintains a gentle, almost reverent tone, balancing environmental concern with human resilience.

The narrative is structurally guided by the voices of Tangier’s residents. Many of them, descendants of six generations of crabbers and fishermen, view their plight through a theological lens. For them, God, family, and community stand above all else. Government intervention ranks low in their hierarchy, present but often seen as inadequate. They interpret the rising tides as both a natural phenomenon and a divine test, underscoring a conservative worldview where spirituality and skepticism of climate science coexist.

But it’s not just faith that shapes their outlook; it’s a lived reality at odds with the broader discourse on climate crisis. Tangier’s residents navigate survival through deeply ingrained beliefs and practical resilience. Their skepticism isn’t mere denial; it’s a response shaped by proximity to the land and a history of adaptation. This tension reveals a critical distinction: while “climate change” feels abstract and manageable, the reality of “crisis” is immediate and disruptive. Yet, it’s this very finality that brings discomfort. The lives of the current generation, built on traditions and values inherited from their forebears who chose for them a home, become saturated in honor—anchored to a way of life that is as much about preserving identity as it is about survival. As rising waters displace them, the legacy of that choice, to settle and endure on such fragile ground, comes under interrogation, casting it in a bittersweet light.

Been Here Stay Here isn’t just another documentary about the climate crisis. Through the example of Tangier Island, Usui explores the intersection of faith, community, and environmental collapse. The film avoids judgment, instead posing larger existential questions: Can deeply held beliefs withstand the tides? Can faith hold back the sea? Can we keep God alive?

Been Here Stay Here had its World premiere in the Luminous section of International Documentary Festival Amsterdam 2024. 

Dir: David Usui / Production company: Lost & Found Films / RBL Films