PCAI’s newly commissioned animated short film Pie Dan Lo (Black Tide), 2024, created and directed by Mauritian multidisciplinary artist Kim Yip Tong, premieres in Mauritius on September 6, 2024, at Pointe Canon Mahebourg and on September 7, 2024, at Institut Français de Maurice at 7 pm.
On July 25, 2020, the bulk carrier MV Wakashio containing 3800 tonnes of fuel ran aground on the reef on the east coast of Mauritius. Twelve days later, oil began to spill, causing the worst ecological disaster ever to occur in the region. This short, hand-animated documentary bears witness to the impact of the event on local communities. Between animated documentary and feature film, Pie Dan Lo takes us back into the drama of Wakashio’s Black Tide as experienced by the people of the Southeast Coast and the entire island that rallied together to save the lagoon.
The film, produced by Gao Shan Pictures and We Film, was shortlisted for the 2024 Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France, one of the most important animation film festivals around the globe.
Kim Yip Tong (1991) is a multidisciplinary artist from Mauritius. She studied textile design in Paris and London, earning a Master’s in Information Experience Design from the Royal College of Art in London in 2017. Her current research focuses on natural history and postcolonial identity. Her practice includes kinetic installations, video mapping, painting, art direction, and music video production. She has created two planetarium animations, “Lucent Matter” (2016) and “Anthozoa” (2017), which have been featured in international festivals. Her work has been exhibited in various countries, and she is a professor of contemporary art at the ENSA Nantes Mauritius School of Architecture.
Activity aligned with Goals 3, 4, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17
