Cape Cod Climate Change Film Premieres On Orpheum Screen

On Thursday, April 11 at 7 p.m. the Chatham Orpheum Theater will host the public premiere of the locally made documentary film “No Refuge: Cape Cod’s Coastal Crisis.” A Q&A session with the film’s producer, Jan Crocker of Orleans, along with writer, associate producer and Cape Cod Chronicle editor Tim Wood will follow the screening of the film.

“No Refuge: Cape Cod's Coastal Crisis” is a powerful 30-minute documentary that explores how climate change is affecting Cape Cod, with a focus on the catastrophic impact of erosion on the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge Headquarters property, located on Chatham’s Morris Island. The film features dramatic images of the property before and after the loss to erosion of over 100 feet of the property’s bluff, as well as footage of the demolition of the National Weather Service weather balloon launching facility in 2021 and the 100-year-old former Coast Guard garage-turned-dormitory in 2022. With the bluff’s edge creeping ever closer, demolition of the visitors center — the one remaining building on the property — is scheduled for April 8. Crocker, who moved to the Cape from the Washington, D.C. area, said he learned about the rising seas and erosion soon after moving to Orleans.

“I witnessed what can happen overnight when a nor’easter in 2018 carved away Nauset Beach's dunes and destroyed the staircase along with Liam’s Clam Shack,” Crocker said. “That was a real eye opener, and let’s face it, things have been getting worse here on the Cape.”

The film’s creative team includes Dr. Milton Levin, an aerial drone videographer and associate research professor whose research focuses on studying the impact of environmental pollutants on the health of marine mammals, along with award-winning composer David Grimes, narrator Sarah Colvin, and Cape Media Center audio engineer Jay Sheehan.

Appearing in the film are Dr. Michael J. Moore, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and director of the WHOI Marine Mammal Center; Rich Delaney, president and CEO of the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown; Brian McGurk, co-chair of the Faith Community Environmental Network and member of the Cape Cod Climate Change Collaborative; Bill Amaru of the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance; Ted Keon, Chatham’s Coastal Resources Director; Eddie Horowitz, president of the Friends of Monomoy; Brian Harrington, emeritus biologist with non-profit bird conservation and science organization Manomet; Christie Beckley, a Monomoy Regional High School graduate who conceived and worked with town officials to implement the Chatham Beach Protection Fund; Rick Nye, refuge manager at the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge; Neal Shalom, whose property abuts the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge; and Dr. Mark Borelli, a coastal geologist with the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown.

Crocker said Wood, the author of “Breakthrough: The Story of Chatham’s North Beach,” was a natural choice as writer for the documentary film.

“I first met Tim in the spring of 2019,” Crocker said. “He stopped by the refuge to conduct an interview about the exhibit I had just completed at the visitors center, ‘Explore the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge.’ Tim was the only person I wanted to write the story for ‘No Refuge.’ He was the perfect fit, and I’m glad he agreed to join our production team.”

Crocker thinks the most important thing people can take away from this film is that climate change is real.

“If you turn your back and don't stand up and take action, you can end up having to face the consequences rather quickly, like the residents who live and work on Morris Island,” Crocker said. “It took just a little over two years to lose over a hundred feet of the refuge bluff, the trails and stairs leading to the beach, and all three operational structures: the National Weather Service, a dormitory, and in the very near future the USFWS visitor center. We must be better prepared to deal with climate change and hope our work adds to the ongoing conversation.”

For more information about “No Refuge: Cape Cod’s Coastal Crisis” visit jc-digimedia.com/no-refuge-doc-news/. Also screening on April 11 is “Inundation District,” a new documentary about the impact of climate change on Boston’s Seaport District. A reception with the people behind both films will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Orpheum lobby, followed by the screening at 7 p.m. and a Q&A afterwards. Tickets are available at chathamorpheum.org.