Yellow Limbo

In 1967, 14 cargo ships from various countries were stranded in the Suez Canal following an incident during the outbreak of the Six-Day War between Israel on the one hand and Egypt, Jordan and Syria on the other. The cargo ships lay at anchor in the Great Bitter Lake in the middle of the canal, usually used as a passing point for shipping. These 14 cargo ships were not able to raise anchor again until 1975, when the Suez Canal was reopened. During their eight-year stay, the international crews forgot about the Cold War and looked for ways to help one another get by. The social system that arose in this isolated microcosm is essentially a history of evolution in a nutshell. In 1968, they even held their own Olympic Games on board - a sign of playful solidarity. The documentary is a reedit of old photos and Super-8 films, shot by forgotten crew members, combined with recent footage shot on location by Swiss artist Uriel Orlow. The big historical events taking place, of which the crews were oblivious, pass by in a series of subtitles. Events both big and small merge onboard the ships in this reordering of images, giving a sensation of time passing in waves, like the ones passing by on the salt water of the Great Bitter Lake.