Driftlines Film Festival: Shorts Program II - Countering Colonial Legacies
About this event
This program features two short documentaries, Farmers of the Sea (2024) and Madulu, the Seaman (2023). The screenings will be followed by a discussion session with Farmers of the Sea Director Juan Carlos Dávila and Madulu, the Seaman Director Akley Olton (joining online), moderated by Dr. Elizabeth L Mclean.
About the films
Farmers of the Sea (2024, 20 min): Set on the Caribbean island of Vieques, Farmers of the Sea presents the lived realities of climate change through the eyes of artisanal fishers. Pedro Zenón carries on his ancestral tradition of fishing with lobster pots, while Cecilia Morales line-fishes from her local pier, a collective practice shared with friends and family. Director Juan Carlos Dávila weaves their stories together, illuminating complex entanglements of ecological and historical forces. Rising sea temperatures, damaged reefs, and chemical pollution from decades of U.S. military occupation all contribute to dwindling catches, as fish and lobster migrate farther offshore. The film reveals a delicate balance between continuity and change, highlighting the lasting strength of intergenerational relationships even as new forms of scarcity emerge. As the children of Vieques learn to fish with their families, they bring a sense of pride and hope into increasingly uncertain futures.
Madulu, the Seaman (2023, 22 min): Madulu, The Seaman follows the relationship between Tall12, one of Barrouallie’s last traditional whalers, and his grandson, Omari. As Tall12 shares stories of his life’s work with Omari, the film expands into the broader history of whaling in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines – a practice born of colonial histories and transformed into an essential part of Vincentian identity and livelihood. Director Akley Olton crafts a nuanced meditation on intergenerational exchange, revealing how the legacies of colonialism continue to rupture relationships and disrupt the transmission of knowledge. Olton also reveals the tensions between traditional whaling and the tourist industry, as international visitors condemn the practice with little regard for its cultural meanings or role in subsistence. Madulu, The Seaman shows how Vincentians creatively negotiate these tensions, finding inventive ways to safeguard their cultural traditions and assert their food sovereignty.
Participant Bios
Farmers of the Sea Director Juan Carlos Dávila is a documentary filmmaker and multi-media journalist born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. His work focuses on environmentalism, social movements and globalization. In his professional film work, Dávila has directed two long-length documentary films: “Compañeros de lucha” (2012) and “Vieques: una batalla inconclusa” (2016). His documentary filmography also includes the short-documentary film, “La generación del estanbai “(2016), which won “BestNational Short Film” at Festival Internacional de Cine Fine Arts in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He recently directed a TV pilot for a documentary series called “The Response,” which explores how people rise together in the aftermath of climate disasters. Dávila currently works as a correspondent for Democracy Now!, his journalist work has also been featured in: TeleSur, the Huffington Post, the Washington Post, and the Indypendent in New York. He holds a Bachelor in Arts of Communication from Universidad del Sagrado Corazón in Puerto Rico (2011) and a Master of Arts in Social Documentation from the University of California, Santa Cruz (2015).
Madulu, the Seaman Director Akley Olton is an acclaimed filmmaker, visual artist, and creative consultant with a focus on high-end film, audiovisual, and multimedia productions. His journey in visual arts began in high school, advancing through filmmaking studies at UWI in Barbados and the International School of Film and Television (EICTV) in Cuba, complemented by workshops and internships worldwide. This extensive experience has honed skills in scriptwriting, directing, editing, and producing, leading to award-winning projects that resonate on both regional and international stages. Olton’s creative consultancy, Island Rebel Media, translates complex ideas into visuals, emphasizing themes like resistance and the transformative power of art while actively involving clients in the creative process. With over a decade in the industry, his spans diverse mediums, including cinema, web, broadcast, and VR, rooted deeply the stories of St. Vincent and the Grenadines which continue to inspire his artistic endeavors.
Discussant Dr. Elizabeth L. Mclean is an Environmental Scientist and an affiliate researcher in the Department of Fisheries, Animal, and Veterinary Sciences at the University of Rhode Island. She currently works as the Executive Coordinator for Keith’s Cacao Guatemala S.A. where she manages the production chain of cacao and the empowerment of local workers in a small township in Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. As a researcher, her interests reside in understanding fishery ecological systems, fishermen’s local ecological knowledge and their adaptations in the face of changes and climate impacts. Mclean has a background in social-ecological systems, coastal resilience, and marine ecology, with a doctoral degree in Environmental Science from the University of Rhode Island. Mclean regularly serves as a reviewer for Human Ecology, Marine Ecology, and Disaster Risk Reduction journals, and collaborates in the areas of sustainable fisheries, climate change resilience, environmental justice, and scientific storytelling.
The Driftlines Ocean Justice Film Festival is supported by Nippon Foundation-Ocean Nexus and The University of Rhode Island.