Sun Nov 23, 02025, 6:30PM UTC
David Abel
Inundation District: Film Screening with Director Q&A
Join Long Now Boston for a special screening of the acclaimed documentary Inundation District, followed by a Q&A with the director, Pulitzer Prize-winning filmmaker and Boston Globe reporter David Abel.
Watch the trailer here:
Event summary coming soon!
In a time of climate change and rising seas, one of the world's wealthiest, most-educated cities made a fateful decision to spend billions of dollars erecting a new waterfront district—on landfill, at sea level, and well after scientists began warning of the threats. The city called its new quarter the Innovation District. But with seas rising inexorably, others are calling it by a different name: Inundation District.
Abel's film raises urgent questions about long-term thinking and responsibility: How did a city with perhaps more climate scientists per capita than any other make this choice? Who should pay to defend a neighborhood built despite decades of warnings? And what happens when the flooding inevitably comes?
The Seaport's story reveals the collision between quarterly profits and generational consequences—a tension playing out in coastal cities worldwide. It's a stark illustration of what's at stake when we lose sight of the future we're building.
Discussion: Following the 79-minute film, director David Abel will join us for a Q&A exploring the themes of the documentary, the challenges he faces in his climate reporting, and what Boston's choices mean for our collective future. We’re proud and excited to welcome David to the Long Now Boston community.
David Abel
An award-winning reporter, documentary filmmaker, and professor of journalism, David Abel has covered war in the Balkans, unrest in Latin America, national security issues in Washington D.C., terrorism in New York and Boston, and climate change and poverty throughout New England. Abel is the producer, director, writer, and cinematographer for Inundation District, a 2023 feature-length film that explores a neighborhood Boston spent billions to build, despite warnings about climate change.
