The competition of the festival "Pêcheurs du monde" (Fishers of the world), will be opened on Thursday, March 22, 2018, in Lorient by the projection of a Senegalese film of Thomas Grand and Moussa Diop "Poisson d'or, poisson africain" (Fish of gold, African fish). The documentary makes us experience an exceptional dive into the complexity, the richness and the tough conditions of artisanal fishing in Casamance. Thousands of people from all over West Africa converge on this coast at the limit of the large sardinella schools moving south from the coastal waters of Morocco to Senegal.
They find ways to live or survive in harsh working conditions, at sea and in the smoke of the fish smoking kilns. Men, women and children rub shoulders in a space and working structure that seems chaotic, but works in a perfectly organized manner. The film does not hide the complex and sometimes conflicting social relations between fishers, porters, fishmongers, employees of smokehouses, wood deliverers, transporters. We understand to which extent this fishery is essential for the work and food for millions of people in Africa. So the film ends with an anguished call: what will become of them if the rumors about the installation of fishmeal factories materialise? Thousands of people will lose their jobs and millions more will reduce their consumption of cheap and quality protein.
Text by Alain Le Sann (translated from French). For more information click here.