– Tomáš Krupa expands his observational practice into a globally orientated, multi-strand portrait of frontline communities adapting to climate change
Slovak filmmaker Tomáš Krupa’s follow-up to his intimate study of the right to die, The Good Death [+see also:
trailer
interview: Tomáš Krupa
film profile], is the surprisingly expansive observational documentary We Have to Survive [+see also:
trailer
interview: Tomáš Krupa
film profile]. Freshly premiered in the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival’s Open Horizons section, the film follows diverse communities as they adjust to life under the pressures of climate change in four distant corners of the planet. Focusing on populations already living with the consequences of environmental transformation, it explores how adaptation becomes a daily practice.
Structured as a mosaic of interconnected stories, the documentary moves from the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where coastal residents confront the slow encroachment of the ocean, to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, where a family attempts to halt desertification by planting trees across an arid landscape. It then travels to the subterranean settlement of Coober Pedy in Australia, where locals have long adapted to the extreme heat by living underground, and finally to the icy shores of southern Greenland, where fishing communities face the accelerating disappearance of sea ice and the uncertain transformation of traditional livelihoods.
Rather than adopting a conventional investigative or essayistic approach, Krupa builds the film through a series of observational encounters with local protagonists. It eschews explanatory voice-overs and expert commentary, instead allowing its subjects to articulate their own perspectives on environmental change. Conversations unfold in kitchens, on fishing boats, in sandy fields, along fragile coastlines and within underground homes. The film’s architecture relies on a parallel structure in which the four geographical strands are interwoven. While each segment has a central protagonist, Krupa broadens the frame to include wider communities, capturing the social implications of environmental change. The Mongolian storyline traces a three-generation family through an intimate story, while the Outer Banks segment also touches on political tensions tied to real estate along the steadily eroding coastline.
One of the film’s strongest assets is the cinematography by Martin Čech and Ondřej Szollos. Wide lenses capture the expansive landscapes, providing a sense of scale for the environmental transformations, while drone shots further enhance the visual scope. At times, the movie encroaches on the aesthetic of high-end travelogues, particularly in its depiction of Greenland and Mongolia. These visuals are complemented by the assured pacing and editing by Peter Kudlička, which balances the distinct storytelling rhythms of each location while contributing to a broader, cohesive perspective on climate change as a shared global condition.
Krupa deliberately steers clear of catastrophic rhetoric, focusing instead on the resilience and ingenuity of communities determined to remain in the places they call home. Many of the protagonists reject the possibility of relocation, choosing instead to confront environmental change directly. In foregrounding these human stories within shifting landscapes, We Have to Survive extends beyond the confines of issue-driven documentary, offering a compilation of individual stories that together form a portrait of a collective experience.
We Have to Survive was produced by Slovakia’s Hailstone, in co-production with Golden Girls Filmproduktion (Austria) and YUZU Productions (France). Its international sales are handled by Taskovski Films.
