Determined to provoke real action, New Zealand teenagers nationwide join the global School Strike for Climate. But planning a movement and building momentum are the easy parts as they face political indifference, their own privilege, and the ongoing struggle to be heard… as the tides continue to rise. In the small-town Thames, teenage best friends Helena and Lillian fight their mayor as the sea begins to sink into their streets. In the capital, Sophie rallies while running for council, to dwindling media attention. In the big city, Auckland, Luke pushes for nonviolent direct action, willing to be arrested if it’ll make headlines. When South Auckland’s prize-winning performance poet, Aigagaleifili, forms a breakaway strike group, everything must change. The devastation of climate change on Pacific nations must be acknowledged.

High Tide Don’t Hide tracks a shift among Aotearoa, New Zealand’s youth climate justice movement, as Pasifika and indigenous activists work to take their rightful place at the front of it. By showing our characters’ experiences in taking action on issues including climate anxiety and racism, our vision is that others are inspired to take action too. Our primary impact goals are to amplify youth voices in the area of climate activism and to provoke urgent, uncompromising and effective climate action, particularly by centring Pasifika voices in Aotearoa, across the Pacific and the world. This film encourages activist groups to examine privilege and representation in their own groups’ and movements’ dynamics and to take steps to explore the true meaning of allyship.