Hampshire Alum Emily Packer 12F Debuts Feature, an Ode to the New York Oyster
Described as a “docu-poetic meditation,” Packer’s Holding Back the Tide tackles the importance of oysters to the natural world, especially in places with eroding shorelines, like New York City.
Packer’s film opened September 6 at DCTV’s Firehouse Cinema, in New York City, and October 4 at Laemmle Theatres, in Los Angeles, via Grasshopper Film. On November 14, Packer will join Amherst Cinema for a post-screening conversation.
Packer said at Talkhouse, “Since 2020, the oyster has been my world,” flipping the usual emphasis. They describe with reverence a “charismatic bivalve,” listing the ways the mollusk helps curb environmental problems, such as cleaning water and protecting against storm surges.
When early production on the film shut down because of the COVID pandemic, Packer signed up to work at Union Square Greenmarket as a way to get human interaction as well as to spend time with both of the primary subjects of the story: oysters and the city. They are both a character and the filmmaker, working double-duty, both behind and in front of the camera, as director and as oyster seller.
The film also introduces people and organizations in New York who work with oysters, from shuckers to habitat restorers; describes the ancient history and fascinating biology of the oyster; and the influence of oysters on the city itself. Packer, who identifies as nonbinary, also explores the way oysters can change their gender.
Writes the New York Times, “There’s a focus on oysters as an embodiment of queerness as well as resilience, a model of transformation and the grand sweep of cosmic history. By the end, Holding Back the Tide feels like both an elegy and a prophecy, looking toward both past and future to imagine what kind of possibilities oysters represent.”
Packer’s directorial work has been screened at film festivals and theaters across the country, including at Anthology Film Archives, BlackStar, and DOCNYC. Their most recent film, the short By Way of Canarsie, co-directed with Lesley Steele, is streaming on the Criterion Channel and was part of POV Shorts Season 6. As an editor, Packer’s work has been featured in the New Yorker, on PBS, and on Vimeo Staff Picks. They serve on programming committees for film festivals in New York City, and were a fellow in the 2018 Collaborative Studio at UnionDocs, in Brooklyn.
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