"WALKING UNDER WATER" AWARDED AT GREENME FESTIVAL
Behind us, we have the ninth edition of the GreenMe festival in Berlin, at which the film "Walking Under Water" by Eliza Kubarska was awarded.
This year's edition of the festival was held with the motto "Ocean - life - water." In Berlin, over thirty feature-length documentary films were shown, the subject matter of which was connected to the theme of the festival.
The documentary film "Walking Under Water" by Eliza Kubarska won this year’s the Children Jury's Award for the Best Film.
Badjao are the community of sea nomads, living in the areas between the Philippines, Borneo and Indonesia. For centuries they lived like fish, spending most of their lives under water. The Badjao children learn to swim faster than to walk, and the adults perfected the difficult art of free-diving. They can walk and hunt at the bottom of the ocean, holding their breath for many minutes. Their lives change in a rapid way in the clash with the modern civilisation. The islands where they lived for hundreds of years (and where they drew water) are sold so that exclusive luxury hotels can be built. Badjao are not admitted there. They are driven out to the slums, located around cities, and irrevocably lose their skills. 10-year-old Sari starts training under the guidance of his uncle Alexan, the last deep-sea diver (the so-called 'compressor diver') on the island of Mabul. Alexan decides to pass his skills on to Sari, because he cannot come to terms with the thought that under the influence of the Western civilisation, the world of his ancestors disappears. He teaches him not only the difficult art of diving with the use of tube and air compressor, but also reveals to him magical legends and customs of the Badjao.
You can find more information about the festival here.