Purple Sea

“I see everything,” she says as if it was a curse. Brilliant sunshine, clear blue skies. The sea is calm, framed by a piece of railing. A peaceful moment if it weren’t for the fact that the sea is standing upright, vertical, like a waterfall. Her boat sank somewhere between Turkey and Greece.

A rush of images, twirling, upside down, jolting. People in the boat, in the water, screams, life jackets, emergency whistles. Even time’s flow comes to a halt, contracting into the brutal present. She is filming and speaking. To beat being tired, being cold, the fact that help isn’t coming. To beat dying, just for something to remain.

This essential film from Syrian director Amel Alzakout charts the sinking of a refugee boat using footage from a waterproof camera. A striking and provocative documentary that confronts viewers with questions of the ethics of documentary filmmaking – and watching.

In partnership with London Migration Film Festival 2021.