About

This impressionist hybrid documentary traces the oyster through its many life cycles in New York, once the world’s oyster capital. Now their specter haunts the city through queer characters embodying ancient myth, discovering the overlooked history and biology of the bivalve that built the city. As environmentalists restore them to the harbor, Holding Back The Tide looks to the oyster as a queer icon, entangled with nature, with much to teach about our continued survival.

Holding Back the Tide was made with intersectional queer values, queer practices, and LGBTQIA+ collaborators. As a non binary queer filmmaker working with a subject that regularly changes its sex as part of its reproductive process, it was important for me to create a vision of the oysters’ cultural economy that celebrated the environmental heroism of the oyster through a queer perspective. Not only are most of the characters and actors queer people, but they also come to see that their gender evolution and self-actualization are reflected in nature. The film sees this reflection as necessary for cultural transformation and building a sustainable future.
In engaging with these themes, the film avoids rigid definitions or hierarchy of knowledge sources. Concepts are allowed to collide and blend The boundaries blur between documentary and fiction, ecology and economy individual and community food and living creature oysters and humans past present and future. The film is shaped cyclically as recursive crashing waves that revisit brief encounters with subjects each revisit revealing new possibilities. Our creative choices are deeply rooted in our research and incorporate our subjects’ Black Indigenous immigrant and working class histories. We subvert the oyster’s “classic” connotations of wealth and heterosexual aphrodisia reframing old tropes through an intersectional and anti-capitalist lens.
-Emily Packer

Featured Subjects

Sue Wicks is a Hall of Fame, former WNBA star turned oyster farmer, who deeply cares for her bivalves. She is the owner of Violet Cove Oysters, based in Long Island, NY, and a proponent of oyster culture, supporting her community and the NYC restaurant industry at large. Violet Cove is the first licensed sugar kelp farm in New York State history, grown in concert with her main crop as an additional water filter. Sue is also pioneering education for women on the water, with an internship program that introduces high schoolers to oyster farming.

Pippa Brashear, RLA, is Resilience Principal and Partner at SCAPE. A leading national expert on resilience planning and design for climate adaptation, Pippa works with multi-disciplinary teams to develop landscape strategies and next-century infrastructure that integrate environmental, economic and social benefits. She leads both planning and built work teams within the firm, bringing an ecological and people-driven approach to SCAPE’s projects—informed by systems thinking; an understanding of natural and nature-based systems; engineering methods; and social and environmental equity.
Pippa holds a Master’s in Landscape Architecture and Master’s in Urban Planning with Distinction from the Graduate School of Design (GSD) at Harvard University. She also holds a Bachelor’s of Arts, cum laude, in Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College.

Wade Karlin manages PE & DD, a Long Island seafood business owned and operated by his family for over 20 years. Wade is an aspiring actor and comedian with experience on the Jimmy Fallon show, where his wife Cyndie Lou is a makeup artist. He is a certified yoga teacher and unofficial mayor wherever he goes. Ask him about his chickens: Pamela, Saffron, and Nutmeg.

Lucina Clarke, M.S is the Executive Director, self- care expert, international speaker, author of the D.I.V.A.S Discovery Journal and co-founder with her husband Wayne Clarke of My Time Inc, a support center for parents and caregivers of a child with Autism and Developmental Disabilities. She is a board member of Brookdale Community Hospital Advisory Board, Brookdale Joint Commission Committee, Community Board 18, 69th Precinct Community Council, Canarsie Community Development Inc, and a member of Metropolis Lions Club as she continues to be a service to anyone in need. One of her most prized awards is receiving The Brooke Russell Astor Award, for a New York City “unsung hero”. This was accomplished the first year she started the business. She recently received an award from Schneps Media, Power List 2022 in Brooklyn, the Friends of Asha Nketan Committee for her commitment and Perseverance in providing a unique service to families of children with Autism, Woman of Distinction 2018 Award, The Powerful Women in Business 2017 award and various Community Pillar Awards.
Lucina is a mother of two (Keya) and (Wayne Jr) and grandmother of Ashton, Eric, Jiro and granddaughters Charli Ashlyn, Alaina Naomi and Aniyah. She migrated from Trinidad and now resides in Canarsie, Brooklyn with her husband Wayne of 35 years.

Owen Foote is an accomplished architect and urban planner with extensive experience delivering New York City projects within budget and ahead of schedule. Over his thirty-five year career, Mr. Foote has directed architectural and interior design projects of up to 400,000 square feet and urban planning projects for major metropolitan areas.
Owen's expertise in zoning and building regulations serves to maximize property value with minimal impact to surrounding communities. He is often employed to evaluate buildings for reuse or to facilitate large scale planning initiatives.
For three decades, Mr. Foote has photo-documented changes to our NY-NJ waterfront and he has been a passionate advocate for revival that embraces local community concerns. He dedicates a significant portion of his personal time to ensure equitable access and use of New York waters to underserved waterfront neighborhoods. He is a founding member of the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club, a not-for-profit that allows the public to experience direct contact with many of New York's most obscure waterways that are in need of environmental awareness and restoration.

Tanasia Swift (she/her) is a marine educator from Brooklyn, NY. She works at Billion Oyster Project as the Field Stations Program Manager, where she develops outdoor programs across NYC utilizing oyster reefs. She manages community connections, plans field events, recruits and engages school groups, and trains community partners at each Field Station location. Tanasia is also an Ambassador for Girls That Scuba (GTS), and a core member at Superhero Clubhouse.

Kim Tetrault received his BS in field biology and marine ecology from Connecticut college and MS in shellfish aquaculture from URI. He has been employed at the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk, NY since 1995 and works with me at CCE as the Community Aquaculture Specialist. Since 2000, he has been the founder and director of the Suffolk Project in Aquaculture Training (SPAT) The SPAT program is a year-round training and oyster gardening initiative that allows community members to participate in hands on activities relating to shellfish culture and environmental stewardship. Members play a crucial role in maintaining all aspects of the culture systems and have access to monthly training lectures and workshops. SPAT currently has a membership exceeding 350 families. He has assisted in the building and managing of numerous shellfish hatchery and nursery systems and has overseen the operation on an all-volunteer based hatchery which produces oyster seed for the SPAT program. Kim started the Southampton Tiana oyster gardening group in 2010 which services 100 members through the Southampton Parks and Recreation Department. He is the author of The Complete Idiots Guide to the Oceans and is a co-investigator on a number journal articles. He is an avid sailor and musician and resides in Southold with his wife Kim.

When Agata learned the definition of “endangered” in elementary school, the Long Island New York native immediately knew her answer to that recurring question: what do you want to be when you grow up? From founding a “Save the Pandas” club at school to taking her passion into adulthood by interning for several companies like WCS Water Quality Lab, World Cares Center Inc. Outreach, and WWF Freshwater in the Living Himalayas, Agata’s professional trajectory was always met with purpose and intention. As Billion Oyster Project’s Public Outreach Manager at the Public Exhibit House (Building 16), Governors Island engaging with the public throughout New York City, curating exhibits, providing education opportunities, community engagement, and developing harbor-related informal education curriculum, Agata continues to expand on her previous roles of Research Associate Technician, Education Outreach Coordinator, and Outreach and Engagement Manager plus effectively utilizing her degree and studies from CUNY Baccalaureate for Unique and Interdisciplinary Studies in the Sustainable Development and Natural Resource Management department.

Ben “Moody” Harney is the founder of The Real Mother Shuckers, the Only Oyster Cart in Brooklyn. Fascinated by the story of Thomas Downing, “the Oyster King of New York,” the son of freed slaves who peddled oysters on Wall Street in the late 1800s, and went on to open one of the most successful oyster restaurants of his time, Harney envisioned operating his own oyster cart. Ben believes the oyster could regain its place as an everyman’s food. Mother Shuckers along with more than 75 purveyors in New York City, donate all the shells to the Billion Oyster Project, an initiative to restore a billion oysters to the New York Harbor by 2035. Recycling the shells rebuilds the reefs so that new oyster populations can grow—as well as improving the water quality and stimulating a return of sea life.

Scripted Cast

Conceptual. Artist. Performer. Storyteller. Ritualist. Writer. Facilitator. Educator. Media Maker. Intuitive Archivist. Circle Keeper. Curator. Communicatrix. Tambourinist. Activist. Photographer. Ecosexual. Accidental Senatorial Candidate. Texan-New Yorker. Maafa descendant. Queer. Peculiar. Curious. Witty. Lover of all people and pronouns. GenXer. Caregiver. Cat mom.

Aasia Taylor-Patterson, a 23-year-old transgender artist from Detroit, Michigan, is making her remarkable film debut in 'Holding Back The Tide.' Aasia's dynamic talent extends far beyond acting, as she has recently embarked on a journey in singing and music production, modeling, traditional visual art, captivating audiences in live nightclub performances, and the thrilling world of DJ-ing.

TL was a series regular on the 4400 Reboot, CW Network and most recently narrated the critically acclaimed Audible podcast, Unlicensed as well as Are You Listening an animated series aimed at helping teens navigate conflict. Upcoming credits include narration for “Ponyboy” by Eliot Duncan and the second season of “Unlicensed” on Audible. You can also see TL in Sarah Ruhles “Orlando” with Taylor Mac at the Signature theater in April 2024 and the lead in Waafrika 123 at PAC June 2024. Other theater credits: Broadway: Straight White Men. Off Broadway: Is This A Room? (Vineyard and International Tour); Lessons in Survival (Vineyard); Nervous System (BAM). Webseries: THESE/THEMS (OutFest); Dinette Season 2 (NewFest). Short Films: Wolf Tone, Flu$h(Outfest) Friday Afternoon (NYC Independent Film Festival), Miles Away (Chronic Insanity Edinburgh Fringe). Audiobooks: Thrust, Four Hundred Souls, Filthy Animals, This Book Is Not for You, Unpopular Vote. TLThompsonactor.com.

Meghan Dolbey (She/They) is a bicoastal actor, activist, and solo performer. Their recent credits include The Gothic Hour (Mechanicals NYC), Comedy of Errors/Richard II (Hip to Hip Theatre Co.), Antigone (MoTive Brooklyn), and Olivia! (New York Theatre Festival). As a writer, Meghan has been working on her evolving solo shows Unsex Me Here and Olivia!, using Shakespeare’s cannon to facilitate conversations around reproductive rights, gender, and Queer love. Follow their adventures online; @meghandolbey

Katharine Nedder is New York based actor and educator specializing in ABA therapy, teaching the blind and visually impaired and coping skills for pediatric patients. Her acting credits span New York, Massachusetts, Missouri, and various tour based locations. Recent film credits include Investigation Discovery’s, “Evil Lives Here.” She is so incredibly grateful as a queer artist and history nerd to work with the Holding Back the Tide cast and crew. She shares thanks and love to her family and her ever supportive wife, Kylie.

Hannah is a writer from Louisville, KY. They hold an MFA in poetry from the University of Arizona and are a founding editor of ctrl + v, an online journal of collage and visual poetry. Their writing appears in Best Small Fictions, Bettering American Poetry, and elsewhere.

Avery Nusbaum (she/her) is an actor/singer born and raised in NYC. Since having attended Ithaca College for musical theater, Avery has appeared in Shakespeare in the Woods production of As You Like It as Audrey, and Catalyst Theater company’s Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens as Booby SheValle. You can next see Avery At Don’t Tell Mamas for her upcoming cabaret and as a part of the trio Quaker Oats.

Hannah is a pilot flying in and out of Providence, Rhode Island where she lives with her two dogs Odie and Lucky Star.

Thomas Annunziata is an actor born and raised in the Bronx. He's studied the craft since his high school years, and values each new experience for acting's infinite possibilities. Thomas has a varied background in construction, retail, digital marketing, and even food service, but art is where his heart is. He seeks this love with open arms in each new role on stage and on camera.