Monday Movie Nights: Walking Under Water (Documentary)

The historically nomadic Badjao people, a Moro indigenous ethnic group of Maritime Southeast Asia, once spent the majority of their time on the water, living off the sea by trading and subsistence fishing. Today, the encroachment of modern civilization has caused that way of life to become nearly extinct.

Walking Underwater features the story of Alexan, the last compressor diver and his nephew Sari on Mabul Island near Borneo, as a window into this disappearing culture. Alexan teaches Sari everything he knows, from dangerous fishing techniques and wisdom about the underwater world to the temptations of the tourist economy.

This film creates a hybrid of fantasy, fiction, and fact to spin a magical narrative of the Badjao’s ancient traditions and collective experience.