Liquid Traces: The left-to-die boat case (2014)

FORENSIC OCEANOGRAPHY

Forensic Oceanography’s video is a report about a rubber boat and reconstructs a series of events that caused the death of 63 people in the central Mediterranean sea in March 2011. In a factual manner, with minimalist aesthetics, the video highlights how a political system failed to take responsibility in saving the lives of the people on the so-called ‘left-to-die’ boat. Although it is a video with significant historical specificity, it functions as a ‘reality check’ for anyone ‘denying’ the horrific reality of the Mediterranean passage to Europe. A ‘reality check’ which does not fall back on the potentially voyeuristic character of photojournalism.

Caption:

Forensic Oceanography, Liquid Traces: The Left-to-Die Boat Case (2014). Chain of events in the “Left-to-Die Boat” case, as reconstructed for the Forensic Oceanography report. Video still (Video, 17:00 mins). Courtesy of Forensic Oceanography.