The collision between coastal development and severe weather in New Jersey and elsewhere is the subject of the documentary “Shored Up,” screening for free this Saturday at Holy Cross School.
As filmmaker Ben Kalina tells it, “I made Shored Up to explore what it means to live beside the beauty of the ocean — where, as we saw with Hurricane Sandy, we are always just one storm away from catastrophe.”
Filmed in late 2012 and 2013 on locations along the Jersey Shore and the North Carolina coast, the documentary feature hits close to home — and with a Category 5 wallop — for local residents who experienced firsthand the unprecedented and still-lingering effects of the superstorm that marks its second anniversary next month.
This Saturday evening, September 20, Holy Cross School in Rumson hosts a free screening of the film, a public-welcome event that includes a discussion with the director and panel of local coastal and environmental scientists.
“This film does an excellent job of examining all sides of the issues surrounding the best way to develop and redevelop our shoreline,” says New Jersey Future local recovery planning manager Steve Nelson. “We hope as many community members as possible will come to see it, and will engage in the conversation afterward.”
Event sponsor NJF — whose activities in the coastal Monmouth community include long-term recovery planning consulting with the borough governments of Sea Bright and Highlands — invites the public to participate in a Q&A session at the end of the panel.
Guest panelists are scheduled to include Cindy Zipf, executive director of Clean Ocean Action, as well as two experts featured in the film: Tim Dillingham, executive director of the American Littoral Society, and Norbert Psuty, professor (emeritus) of coastal geomorphology at the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers University. The panel will be moderated by Tony MacDonald, director of the Urban Coast Institute at Monmouth University.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for the screening, scheduled for 7 p.m.
