IDFA 2016
Dead Slow Ahead
Mauro Herce
Spain, France
2015
74 min
Dutch Premiere
This intoxicating voyage of a freighter crossing the Atlantic is more like a -style science fiction movie than a documentary. Adrift and always in hypnotic motion, the vessel becomes a futuristic machine that seems to be swallowing up the people working on it. Surely this must be what a journey to the end of the world would be like – traveling aboard the last mechanical remnant, following pointless orders, going nowhere, but unstoppable. For 10 weeks, Spanish director Mauro Herce composed meticulously framed shots to capture the journey of the , the freighter that his camera transforms into a wandering space vehicle: the backlit cables, the ominous creeks as the cargo is unloaded, the ghostly clouds in sepia skies, the toxic green radar screen, the low-lit parties, and the thumps, grating and squeaking. When the ocean water seeps in and reaches the cargo of grain, it portends nothing less than the apocalypse.
Credits
Screening copy
Bocalupo Films
Bocalupo Films
World Sales
Bocalupo Films
Bocalupo Films
Director
Production
Bocalupo Films,
El Viaje Films,
Ventura Durall
Bocalupo Films,
El Viaje Films,
Ventura Durall
Cinematography
Editing