Wawata Topu (Women Divers in Rasua dialect) is an award winning documentary about four generations of fisherwomen striving to make a living in the coastal village of Adara, West Ataúro in Timor-Leste. Their daily lives, their economic practices and their vital concerns, as well as the contradicting discourses and social barriers they face, are shown in this ethnographic portrait that makes visible their critical contribution to the household economies and the fishing community at large. Their underwater dancing takes place in a context of rapid social change, where the generalization of the formal education, the progressive consolidation of western moral values and the potential openness of more attractive livelihoods not linked to the sea, seem to be forging a social negotiation of the household economic strategies initiated by the oldest generation during the 50’s.
The film was co-directed and produced by visual artist David Palazón and anthropologist Enrique Alonso, funded by the SPC (Secretariat of the Pacific Community) in 2013, and with the grateful assistance of photographer Nelson Turquel, production assistant Mario Gomes, divers Nuno da Silva and Beatriz Marciel and graphic designer Fredrik Stürmer.
Since its release in August 2013, Wawata Topu has been selected to participate at many international film festivals. The film has received several reviews by the international press, and on the 26th February 2015, it obtained the BEST FOREIGN DOCUMENTARY AWARD at the American Online Film Awards ceremony in New York. In March 2015 the film received the Special Prize 'Chandrika Sharma' at the 7ème Édition du Festival International de Films Pêcheurs du Monde in Lorient (France).
More info: davidpalazon.com/wawata-topu/
Facebook page: wawatatopu
17 дек 2017
