MUR 013 | NATHANIEL J. BROWN || SHIFTING TIDES
“Shifting Tides” is an immersive, interdisciplinary film project by Nathaniel J. Brown that traces Ishigaki’s complex and evolving relationship with the sea. Positioned at a geopolitical and ecological threshold, Ishigaki is a community shaped—and increasingly challenged—by its proximity to the ocean. Once a symbol of freedom, sustenance, and tradition, the sea now mirrors the island’s uncertain future: rising tourism, climate instability, and an escalating military presence pose urgent questions about sustainability, cultural survival, and belonging.
Filming across landscapes and lifeways, Brown walks the inner reef at Shiraho—one of Japan’s six designated Satoumi, where fragile reef ecologies are interwoven with lived cosmologies and local practices. He documents voices across generations, including Masao Shinzato, son of renowned conservationist Masatoshi Shinzato, who continues to pass on his father’s vision of ocean stewardship to local children.
The project delves deeply into the daily rhythms of Uminchu—Ishigaki’s fishermen—and their spiritual and material entanglement with the ocean. Central to the narrative is the life of Shokiji Taira, affectionately known as Otoosan, whose home stands as a living museum of island heritage. Brown captures this domestic space as a portal of memory and ritual, adorned with fishing instruments, offerings, shells, and coral—a testament to the enduring legacy of those who dwell with the sea.
The journey culminates with Yoshida-san’s sabani, the hand-carved wooden fishing boat that sails between past and present. Through the process of boatmaking and the ritual of riding the sabani, Brown illuminates the labor, intimacy, and resilience embedded in oceanic knowledge systems.
“Shifting Tides” is not only an exploration of island geographies, but a poetic archive of stories, gestures, and inheritances that ripple across generations. Through filmmaking as storytelling, Brown offers a meditation on what is at stake—and what might still be preserved—as tides continue to shift.
Nathaniel J. Brown is an Australian-born, U.S.-raised filmmaker and photographer whose work explores themes of place, belonging, and community. A Fulbright Scholar fluent in Chinese, he graduated magna cum laude from Middlebury College. His films and photography have been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue, Nowness, Dazed, and CNN, and screened at festivals including DOC NYC, Hawaii International Film Festival, and Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. Brown's recent projects include City of Hands, a documentary on young artists in Jingdezhen, China; Mahålang, an award-winning short; and Big Fight in Little Chinatown, where he served as cinematographer. He is currently based between New York and Taipei .