National Geographic’s latest docuseries, Tsunami: Race Against Time, delves into the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, providing personal accounts from survivors, scientists who raced against time to understand the catastrophic disaster and warn the world, journalists who broke the shocking news, and the fearless rescuers who risked their lives to save others.
Leading up to the release of the series, I had the chance to talk with Soffie Modin, a survivor of the tsunami, and Tanya Winston, one of the executive producers of the series, about what drew Tanya to this project and what it was like for Soffie to relive the moments of such a troubling experience in her life.
LP: Hi there, this is Luke with Laughing Place, and I am here with Soffie Modin, one of the interview subjects of Tsunami: Race Against Time, the latest Nat Geo documentary, as well as one of the executive producers of the series, Tanya Winston. First off, Soffie, you were a survivor of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami – what was it like revisiting it for the series, and was that something that you had to grapple with, if that was something you even wanted to revisit? Or did you think it was more important to talk about it?
Soffie: I took a good round of thinking about it before accepting the offer. But I think it's important to be open about this, talk about it, share your story, etc. It's a new generation now, maybe they don't know that much about it, and I think it's important to share. It's a different time now. 20 years back, we didn't have smartphones, etc. So, it's important to tell that story. Yeah, no, just positive about it.
LP: Yeah, absolutely. I feel like getting to hear the stories from people that were actually there, and seeing the footage too, which you do in the series, is incredibly powerful. It's very hard to put yourself in those shoes if it's not something that you've done, but you can do so a little bit better, and I think feel that emotional weight when you hear it from someone that was actually there and involved. So, how did that influence your perspective on life and kind of your goals going on from there?
Soffie: Of course, the months after the tsunami, or I would say maybe the year after the tsunami, it was maybe everything I thought about all the time, searching for new information, etc. And me and my boyfriend at that time, we were pretty injured also, so it was a lot with hospital and stuff. But like going on in life, and when I look back those 20 years, it's like, you kind of live life. You don't take anything for granted, and try to just grasp any opportunity, and live life, you never know, you never know what you get tomorrow.
LP: Absolutely, and honestly, that's a great outlook, so it's great to hear that. And then, Tanya, what drew you specifically to this project? Because I've looked at some of your past projects. And it seems like you've dealt with some of the more deep things in life. So what kind of drew you to talking about this particular topic?
Tanya: Yeah, I think at Blast Films, which is the company that made this series, and that I work for, we try to find projects that have… we're definitely interested in history, recent history in particular, and historical stories that have layers and nuance and purpose, and that sort of tell us about the wider world. So that's really key for us and for me as well as a filmmaker. I think this particular story had never been told in a definitive way. It was coming up for the 20th anniversary, there had been individual films that have been told often about the Western tourist experience, but less so about the local experience and never been told in such a broad definitive way, using archive footage that hadn't been seen before, and hearing such extensive testimony from survivors. It felt like a project that could be a real record, like a historical document that people could look back on and it would stand the test of time and that was really important to us. So yeah, it felt like a story that just deserved to be told for the voices of the victims and the survivors, and that was important to lay down for the future as well.
LP: I agree with you, as I was mentioning before, seeing the footage and kind of having the timestamp of you know this happened at 8:20 in the morning, and then getting those individual responses from the different survivors is really powerful. I think it's a unique and well-done way to tell the story. So good on it! And then for both of you, you were mentioning, Soffie, that people of this generation may not know much about the story. So what would you say would be a good tease or a good reason for people to watch this series specifically if they want to learn more about it?
Tanya: Personally, I would say it's really compelling. Like, obviously, it's really worthy. It's really purposeful. But also, it's just a really good watch. It's really compelling. It's really dramatic. Hopefully we've made a series that has a very much a propulsive narrative that pulls you through that you want to watch. You want to see what happens to these amazing individuals and you're invested in their stories. And also, it's just, you know, dramatically speaking, the archive is unbelievable. It's really jaw-dropping. And to see that and it changes as you get through the series, you know, the archive in episode one, which took place in Indonesia, is very different to the archive in Thailand, where it's a more kind of classic giant wave. So, it's just unbelievable material, and the contributors like Soffie are just, you know, very compelling people to listen to.
Soffie: I just think for like the generation now that they get the picture of how it was. Like, I have nieces and nephews that were small kids at that time. And they were always like, yeah, but why didn't you swim? Why didn't you call home? Why didn't you step on an airplane? Like, it wasn't that easy at that time. Nothing works like it works today. So, I think for the younger generation, just to get like how it was, and if you're not really into the tsunami and know that much, you really get the full picture of all countries, how the tsunami behaved in different countries. And yeah, I think you get a really good intel on everything.
LP: Well, thank you both. Tsunami: Race Against Time will debut over two nights, starting on November 24th at 9/8c on National Geographic, featuring back-to-back episodes. All episodes will be available for streaming on Disney+ and Hulu beginning November 25th.
For more on Tsunami: Race Against Time, be sure to check out our review of the series.