MOROCCO- A Senegalese filmmaker died on a migrant boat while trying to shoot realistic scenes of the crossings.
Doudou Diop, 29, was among 14 people who died trying to reach Spain from Senegal after their boat was found drifting off the coast of Morocco in late July, according to recent accounts from survivors.
The remaining 71 were rescued by Morocco’s navy.
The crossing is one of the most dangerous used by African migrants attempting to get into Europe, having claimed 126 lives in the first half of this year, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Testament to his commitment to his craft, Diop was trying to film the journey to tell it as accurately as possible, said his friend, Babacar.
“We had tried to film the scenes of the journey in the sea off Saint Louis with 12 actors, but one day Doudou told me that this was not the way, that it was not real; to tell this story we had to make the trip,” Babacar, who survived the attempted crossing, told the Spanish newspaper El País.
Mr Diop had initially studied heritage and culture at university before embarking on training as a photographer and video maker.
Most of his work carries a strong social and environmental message, such as Dump, a film about a family that lives off rubbish that had been selected for screening at African film festivals, and Sewage Neighbours, a critique of the poor sanitation in his neighbourhood.
His family said he told them he was going to Dakar, where he was studying filmmaking, as cover for his plans to board the migrant boat.
After a few days in which they didn’t hear anything they began to grow alarmed.
“Why didn’t he say?” his father Sandiery Diop said to El País.
The retired policeman began to ask around the port of Dakar and was later informed by the Moroccan consul of a boat that had run into trouble.
It was not until people who had seen Mr Diop on board had sent word of his presence on the boat that the family learned of his fate.
Among notes left in his room, Mr Diop’s parents found notes and a script for his latest project, entitled Daaj Gaal.
“My plan is to tell the story of Tapha, who sets off on his third attempt to reach the Spanish coast by boat. I could not help but reach the conclusion that it would be interesting to relate the journey of someone who insists on confronting the sea once more after going through hell.”
Babacar said that Mr Diop was still filming his subject Tapha after five days on board, when the boat’s food ran out and the sea became rough.
“It was around the seventh day when we got a rash all over our bodies and started vomiting. Twenty-four hours later, he lost consciousness. I don’t know exactly what happened next because I also fainted. I woke up in the hospital and Doudou was not there.”
