Ghost Fleet
This gorgeous, devastating movie is thrilling to watch, but doubles as a first-rate journalistic expose...uncover[s] a real-life hero.
-- Eric Kohn, Indiewire
Ghost Fleet
Ghost Fleet is a feature-length documentary that pulls back the veil on the seafood industry to reveal striking stories of survival and redemption. Hauntingly beautiful and driven by a strong-willed heroine, the film takes viewers on a sweeping search of remote Indonesian islands looking for escaped men who seek out survival.
Much of the seafood in our daily lives -- sushi, frozen fish, shrimp cocktails, and the vast amount that goes into pet food -- is caught by slaves. Thailand is one of the world’s largest seafood exporters with a huge fishing fleet that needs thousands of fishermen. Decades of overfishing have decimated fish stocks in the region and today the Gulf of Thailand is one of the most barren parts of the ocean.
Thai captains now scramble to find crew willing to travel thousands of miles to find fish. Human traffickers have started to fill the labor shortage by selling men from Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and other impoverished nations to fishing companies for as little as a few hundred dollars each. Once at sea, these captive men go months, even years, without setting foot on land, earning little to no pay -- becoming slaves at sea.
Ghost Fleet follows a small group of activists who risk their lives to find justice and freedom for the enslaved fishermen. Bangkok-based Patima Tungpuchayakul, a Thai abolitionist, has committed her life to helping these “lost” men return home. Facing illness, death threats, corruption, and complacency, Patima’s fearless determination for justice inspires her nation and the world.
Much of the seafood in our daily lives -- sushi, frozen fish, shrimp cocktails, and the vast amount that goes into pet food -- is caught by slaves. Thailand is one of the world’s largest seafood exporters with a huge fishing fleet that needs thousands of fishermen. Decades of overfishing have decimated fish stocks in the region and today the Gulf of Thailand is one of the most barren parts of the ocean.
Thai captains now scramble to find crew willing to travel thousands of miles to find fish. Human traffickers have started to fill the labor shortage by selling men from Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and other impoverished nations to fishing companies for as little as a few hundred dollars each. Once at sea, these captive men go months, even years, without setting foot on land, earning little to no pay -- becoming slaves at sea.
Ghost Fleet follows a small group of activists who risk their lives to find justice and freedom for the enslaved fishermen. Bangkok-based Patima Tungpuchayakul, a Thai abolitionist, has committed her life to helping these “lost” men return home. Facing illness, death threats, corruption, and complacency, Patima’s fearless determination for justice inspires her nation and the world.
Genre
Documentary,
World Affairs,
Women and Film
Runtime
90
Language
English,
Thai
Director
Shannon Service
Cast
Patima Tungpuchayakul
Awards:
Winner, John Schlesinger Award, Palm Springs International Film Festival
FEATURED REVIEW
Jordan MintzerHollywood Reporter
It's like something out of a Joseph Conrad novel: A young man goes out for a night on the town, hoping to meet a girl — perhaps a prostitute. He finds one, follows her into a room somewhere, and, without warning, is jumped by several men and knocked out cold. He awakes the next day on a bed that is ...
Played at
Monica Film Center 6.07.19 - 6.13.19
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