- Welcome to POV.
I'm Pete Schwaba,
host of PBS Wisconsin's Director's Cut.
Tonight, we take you to Mumbai,
the setting for some masterful vérité filmmaking
in the film Against the Tide.
Against the Tide tells the story of two Indigenous men
who fish the seas near Mumbai
and have done so since childhood.
One of the men, Rakesh,
sticks to the age-old customs he learned growing up,
by following the moon and the tides.
Ganesh, on the other hand, has chosen to embrace technology.
Ganesh and Rakesh have always been like brothers,
but their relationship has been tested
thanks to their different approach to their profession.
Shunning the ancestral fishing practices that Rakesh uses,
Ganesh uses deep sea fishing boats and LED lights,
which help attract fish,
but are against the law in much of India.
Despite the state-of-the-art tools,
Ganesh is struggling financially as much as Rakesh,
who has a wife and baby at home.
The two men also face the challenge of waters
that have become more unpredictable
due to climate change and corporate greed.
Their personal struggles and fishing waters
in a struggling ecosystem
provide human and environmental drama.
This is the second feature-length documentary
for director Sarvnik Kaur.
Kaur uses her camera to capture the scenic beauty of the region
as well as intimate conversations
and arguments the two leading men share
at the end of their long days.
The cinematography has been called masterful,
as Kaur captures the beauty of India and the ocean,
which help provide a backdrop
for the turmoil Raskesh and Ganesh deal with.
Their lives seem dire at times,
but thanks to Kaur's skillful directing and vérité style,
we see hope and warmth amid conflict between the two men.
Against the Tide enjoyed a deep festival run
and netted its share of awards.
[chuckles] Sorry, couldn't resist.
The film won a Jury Prize at Sundance in 2023
for Best World Cinema Documentary
for Vérité Filmmaking.
The film also won awards at the Asian Pacific Film Festival,
Mumbai Film Festival,
and at the Sydney and Seattle Film Festivals.
Not bad for only your second effort as a director.
Against the Tide starts now on PBS Wisconsin,
your home for independent film.