Tides of Kilwa

The brief was simple and difficult: make a film about Kilwa that people from Kilwa would recognise. We spent three weeks on the coast before a camera came out of its case — eating with families, learning the tides, earning our place on the boats.

We shot at dawn and dusk with a small crew and natural light, letting the builders narrate their own work in Kiswahili. The edit follows the rhythm of a single dhow, from the first plank to the day it meets the water.