Monday, July 29, 2024 at 11 p.m. on KPBS TV / PBS App
POV examines the push and pull between the natural world and modern civilization with a focus on the changing nature of labor and what it means to survive in director Sarvnik Kaur’s "Against the Tide." Central to the film are close friends and Koli fishermen Rakesh and Ganesh. For both men, fishing is a vital family inheritance — it isn’t just their livelihood, but also a marker of their identities. Against the backdrop of an adoring sea, which is turning adverse under the menacing effects of climate change, the men are driven to desperation by a dying sea.
The culture of Mumbai, India’s largest city, is linked inextricably with the story of the Kolis, the lower-caste, Indigenous fisherfolk community whose koliwadas (villages) dot the coastline. "Against the Tide," captures the real-life battles of best friends and fishermen, Rakesh and Ganesh. Both grew up in the caste, and are inheritors of the great Koli knowledge system—a way to harvest the sea by following the moon and the tides.
Both struggle to provide for their young families, but their approach differs. Hidden resentments begin to arise as they grapple with each other’s business practices. Rakesh is poor and committed to the traditional Koli principles of fishing. Ganesh received an international education, has a power boat, and uses innovative technology to maximize his catch.
Via cinema vérité, director Kaur watches as tension builds between the friends as they face common foes; the obstacle of government bureaucracy (night fishing is illegal), plastic ocean garbage, commercial overfishing, an overpopulation of jellyfish, and dwindling fish stock due to climate change.
Filmmaker Quote:
“The genesis of this film coincides with my own search for values and love; that I found it in my two co-creators Ganesh and Rakesh is the beauty, the hidden magic, the secret ingredient that makes this world go around,” said Sarvnik Kaur, director of "Against the Tide." “Over the course of 5 years making this film; I was given the love and privilege of being a witness - it’s a miracle that we could suspend disbelief and create a spirit of pure creation that made this film possible. People like to imagine that climate change happens to someone else; through Ganesh and Rakesh’s life and choices; I wanted us all to meditate on ‘how much do we need to be happy?’”
Watch On Your Schedule: "Against the Tide" will make its national broadcast premiere on POV Monday, July 29, 2024 and available to stream until Oct. 29, 2024 at pbs.org, and the PBS App.
In addition to standard closed captioning for the film, POV, in partnership with audio description serviceDiCapta, provides real time audio interpretations for audiences with sensory disabilities.
Film Awards:
The film made its world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival where it won the Special Jury Prize for Vérité Filmmaking. Other wins include: Best Environmental Documentary at Verzio HRFF 2023; the UN Perception Change Award at Visions du Réel 2023; the Green Warsaw Award, at Millennium Docs Against Gravity 2023; the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at Seattle International Film Festival 2023; the Sustainable Future Award at Sydney IFF 2023; Best Feature at IceDocs 2023; and the Grand Prix for Impact Documentary at FIPADOC 2024. Winning accolades include: Best Feature Documentary Nomination at the Gotham Awards 2023; Best Feature Documentary at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2023; Golden Gateway Award at the MAMI 2023; Best Green Documentary at the Rome International Documentary Award 2023; and Best Feature Documentary at the IDA Awards 2023. Sarvnik Kaur was nominated for Best Director at the IDA Awards 2023.
Credits: A Snooker Club Films and A Little Anarky Films production. Sarvnik Kaur is the director. The producers are Sarvnik Kaur, Koval Bhatia, and Quentin Laurent. The executive producers are Mira Nair, Russell Long, and Erika Dilday and Chris White for American Documentary | POV. Now in its 37th season, POV continues to mark its place as America’s longest running non-fiction series.
"'Against the Tide' artfully depicts the desperation and destruction Indigenous communities around the world are facing due to climate change and globalization," said Chris White, Executive Producer, POV. "Director Sarvnik Kaur’s choice to tell the story from the contrasting perspective of two friends - one beholding to tradition, and the other embracing modernity in order to not be left behind - makes this film relatable to a variety of audiences."
