Ellavut Cimirtuq (Our World Is Changing)

Many coastal villages in Alaska are under imminent threat from thawing permafrost, sea-level rise and erosion. The accelerated retreat of Arctic sea ice has left shorelines unfrozen and exposed.

In Southwest Alaska, the thawing permafrost reveals a significant archaeological site, frozen in time. As the community of Quinhagak races to save the artifacts from being washed away into the Bering Sea, Yupik filmmaker Jacqueline Cleveland explores how a distant past rewrites narratives of change and adaptation.

As the village pioneers a new model of community archaeology, the artifacts reawaken connections with language, art, and ways of life, while the warming climate alters the very ground that shaped them.