Now the sun had sunk from Patricia Pisters on Vimeo.
Now the sun had sunk is a video essay that I made for the Critics Choice program of the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2020 by way of introduction to Mati Diop’s film Atlantics (2019). Set in contemporary Dakar, Atlantics presents the point of view of the women who remain in Senegal when their men leave on small boats to find their luck in Europe. Most never return, except as spirits that enter the bodies of those who remain. The film is told in an ingenious genre mixture that combines a love story, fairy tale, zombie movie and political drama. Images of the sea appear with a different affective attraction, ranging from lustful and mysterious to menacing and dangerous.