Courtesy: Big Red Barn Films (Click for Slideshow)

Of the untapped potential lying dormant inside of the laborers, he expressed the optimism that he hoped they came to grasp: “If garbage can turn into something so expensive, so can I… something so valuable, so can I.”
Though smaller in length, documentary shorts don’t have to limit themselves in the scope of what they consider. Jennifer Redfearn’s nominated film Sun Come Up follows the Carteret Islanders of Papua New Guinea on their journey to a new home. The inhabitants of the tiny island are among the first climate change refugees, displaced by rising tides and flooded farmland. They may be some of the smallest contributors to the release of greenhouse gases, but they are the first to feel the ruinous effects.
Subsisting on no more than fish and coconuts, in addition to the meager relief supplies delivered by the local government, the Cartereters must find living space on a larger island, Bougainville. Redfearn’s camera follow members of the group searching for a welcoming Bougainvillian community. It’s a chronicle of events that one hopes not to later look back on as a harbinger of things to come.