Programmer's Note

One of a number of films at this year’s Festival confronting Europe’s migration crisis, Color of the Ocean is unique for its setting: the glorious and troubled Canary Islands. A Spanish archipelago located just off the coast of northwest Africa, the Canaries are both a tourist paradise and a purgatory for refugees. In Color of the Ocean, director Maggie Peren offers a story in which the itinerary of two such refugees collides with those of an altruistic tourist and a Canary Island cop. The experience they share will change the course of their lives.

After years working as a border patrolman, José (Alex González) has developed a salty crust of cynicism about his work, which places him in a position to decide the fates of many. José’s weary attitude is put to the test when he encounters Nathalie (Sabine Timoteo), a German tourist assisting a boatload of refugees she discovered landing on the Canary shores. One of those people, a Congolese man named Zola (Hubert Koundé), is placed in an internment camp. Much to the objections of her husband Paul (Friedrich Mücke), Nathalie tries to help him escape. Yet Zola and his son Mamadou (Dami Adeeri) eventually find themselves in yet another precarious situation, in which they are dependent on nefarious smugglers.

Questions of responsibility linger over the course of the film. These questions are posed not only to José — who on top of his reluctant involvement in the trials of Nathalie and Zola, carries a deep guilt over the death of his drug-addicted sister Marielle (Alba Alonso) — but also to the others, who can’t be certain whether their actions will effect positive change or make matters worse. When Color of the Ocean is over, those questions are passed on to us.