[ama-san--Film-list-image]

2016 / 113 minutes

Directed by
Cláudia Varejão
Country of production
Portugal Switzerland Japan

A dive, the noon sunlight cuts through the water. The air in both lungs will have to be enough to rip the abalone from the rocks at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. With no aid from air tanks or any other tools to enable underwater breathing, the body as a whole is pushed to its limit. In Wagu, a fishing village in the Ise Peninsula, three women, Matsumi, Mayumi and Masumi dive everyday not knowing what they will find. Underwater, their delicate bodies turn into those of sea hunters. The Ama-San have been diving like this in Japan for over 2000 years.

In the 2017 RAI Film Fest RAI/Basil Wright
Language and subtitles
Japanese
Location(s) depicted
Ijika Oosatsu Toushijima Wagu (Japan)