WALKING UNDER WATER

Alexan, the last compressor diver on Mabul Island near Borneo, teaches 10 year old Sari everything he knows, from dangerous fishing techniques and the temptations of the tourist economy to wisdom about the underwater world.

WALKING UNDER WATER presents the Badjao tribe’s ancient traditions and collective experience as a magical narrative, spinning the urgent pressures and problems they face into a hybrid of fantasy, fiction and fact. The Badjao people once lived like fish, spending the majority of their time on the water, but with the encroachment of modern civilization, that way of life has become nearly extinct.

Breathtaking underwater photography emphasizes this loss and the drought of enchantment on dry land. While Alexan refuses to accept that the world of his ancestors is gone, Sari is torn between his longing to be a fisherman like his uncle and the tug of the new world in the form of a nearby resort. Badjao always survived from fishing, but now they cannot compete with big fishing vessels so to fish more effectively, they use the most dangerous methods as compressor diving. A compressor diver dives down to 30 meters, only with a rubber pipe in his mouth and Oxygen provided from a boat above, supported by a usually poorly working engine. Unaware of decompression sickness they believe that pain is caused by evil spirits who, if offended, can harm or make them die.

This is a story about a 10 years old boy Sari who wants to learn how to be a compressor diver. Through this personal story, we present the dramatically changing landscape of the paradise islands and its people in Borneo.

Eliza Kubarska is an award-winning Polish film director. Graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts (sculpture, video art) and Wajda School of Film Direction in Warsaw (Poland); scholarship holder of the Polish Ministry of Culture and Arts. She is a documentary filmmaker focusing on human stories with an ecological background.

Director
Eliza Kubarska

Cinematography
Piotr Rosołowski

Underwater Photography
Lisa Strohmayer

Editor
Bartosz Pietras, PSM

Sound
Franciszek Kozłowski

Producer
Monika Braid

Co-Producers
Stefan Kloos
Maciej Ostoja – Chyżyński
Filip Kovčin
Eliza Kubarska

Music
Michał Jacaszek

Sound Design
Franciszek Kozlowski

Colour Grading
Przemek Niedzwiecki

Graphic
Agnieszka Nieroda

Production
Braidmade Films

Co-Production
Kloos & Co. Medien
Vertical Visions

Commissioning Editor ZDF/ARTE
Ann-Christin Hornberger

Polish Film Institute
East European Forum 2012
EDN Docs in Thessaloniki 2012
Documentary Campus Crossing Borders 2012

Hot Docs International Documentary Festival 2014
Special Jury Prize

Planete Doc Review 2014
Honorable Mention

Palm Springs International Film Festival 2015
John Schlesinger Award

GreenMe Global Festival 2016
Children’s Jury Award

World Premiere
Hot Docs International Documentary Festival 2014, Canada

Further Festivals (Selection)
DOK Leipzig 2014, Germany
Festival dei Popoli – International Documentary Film Festival Florenz 2014, Italy
Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival 2015, Czech Republic
Los Angeles Film Festival 2014, USA
Planet+ Doc Film Festival 2014, Poland
Zurich Film Festival 2014, Switzerland
Vancouver International Film Festival 2014, Canada
Planete Doc Review International Film Festival 2014, Poland
Reykjavik International Flm Festival 2014, Iceland
BFI London Film Festival 2014, UK
Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival 2014, Brazil
Palm Springs International Film Festival 2015, USA
Denver International Film Festival 2014, USA
DocPoint Helsinki Documentary Film Festival 2015, Finland
Traverse City Film Festival 2014, USA
Camden International Film Festival 2014, Maine, USA
DHFest Mexico 2014, Mexico
Margaret Mead Film Festival 2014, New York, USA
Sarasota Film Festival 2015, USA
Visions Du Réel 2015, Nyon, Switzerland
Anûû-rû Aboro International Documentary Film Festival 2015, New Caledonia, France
Pärnu International Documentary and Anthropology Film Festival 2015, Estonia
GreenMe Global Festival 2016, Germany

Buy DVD here: www.riseandshine-shop.de/produkt/walking-under-water
Watch online here: www.vimeo.com/ondemand/walkingunderwaterenglish