Pie Dan Lo (Black Tide)

Synopsis

In 2020, the bulk carrier MV Wakashio ran aground off the east coast of Mauritius, releasing nearly 1,000 tons of oil into the Indian Ocean. Pie Dan Lo captures the devastation of this disaster with acute intensity, brought to life through the vivid, hand-painted images of director Kim Yip Tong. This animated film traces the collective response of local communities, as people across Mauritius unite to protect their island and the many human, animal, and plant lives that call it home. The film highlights the umbilical bond between coastal peoples and the sea—a bond both ruptured and renewed in the wake of this catastrophe. Pie Dan Lo is a story of solidarity and communal resilience, a short and powerful critique of systemic failures in environmental governance and the destructive reach of the global petrochemical industry.

Director Bio

Kim Yip Tong is a multidisciplinary artist from Mauritius. She studied textile design in Paris and London, earning a Master’s in Information Experience Design from the Royal College of Art in London in 2017. Her current research focuses on natural history and postcolonial identity. Her practice includes kinetic installations, video mapping, painting, art direction, and music video production. She has created two planetarium animations, “Lucent Matter” (2016) and “Anthozoa” (2017), which have been featured in international festivals. Kim’s work has been exhibited in various countries, and she is a professor of contemporary art at the ENSA Nantes Mauritius School of Architecture.

Distribution

Wasia Distribution
Contact: miguel.wasia@gmail.com 

 

We need to grieve. When we make these kinds of projects about trauma, the whole process becomes about trying to make sense of what happened. And we need stories for that.