Through intimate cinema verité, Been Here Stay Here delves into the quiet yet profound crisis facing Tangier Island, where climate change isn’t a distant or abstract concept but an undeniable daily reality. This small, close-knit Christian community, anchored by its faith and its deep connection to the Chesapeake Bay, finds itself on the brink of an uncertain future. 

For the people of Tangier, faith is both their compass and their source of solace, grounding them as they navigate a future shaped by forces beyond their control. Filmmaker David Usui documents their struggle with compassion and nuance, offering a deeply human meditation on resilience, community, and the endurance of home. This is not simply a story of loss; it’s a story of how we hold on, of the values and traditions that sustain us even as the world shifts beneath our feet.

While the stakes for Tangier Island are undeniably high, Been Here Stay Here offers not only an honest reckoning with the challenges of our time but also a quiet space for hope. It suggests the possibility of bridging divides—between generations, between faith and action, and between human needs and environmental realities. The film calls on us all to reflect on what it means to love and protect the places and people we hold dear, inviting us to join in a shared responsibility to steward the world together.

Director: David Usui
Producers: David Usui, Giorgio Angelini

Editors: David Usui, Elizabeth Rao

DP: Peter Steusloff
Additional Cinematography by: David Usui

Composer: James William Blades
Story Producer: Martha Wollner (@marthawollner)

Executive Producers: Jeff Sobrato, Nicole Shipley, Ryan Harrington, Jaden Levitt