Sine Plambech Brings Sea-Rescue Documentary Rescue to Zurich as Jury Chief
A family is separated at sea in the first minutes of Rescue, the documentary Danish filmmaker Sine Plambech brought to the Zurich Film Festival for its European premiere.
Plambech arrived in Zurich with two roles. She directs the film. She also heads up the documentary competition jury at the festival's 22nd edition, after a world premiere in the TIFF Docs section at Toronto, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Rescue opens off the Libyan coast. The rescue ship Geo Barents, operated by Doctors Without Borders, spots an overcrowded dinghy. During the operation, Libyan militiamen intervene and take several people away, including a mother named Roro and her two young children.
The rest of the film stays with Roro's husband Hani. It traces his months-long effort to find his family and bring them back together. The central figure is described as a Yemeni mother fighting to reunite her family, while the wider story concerns migration, rescue and the human cost of Europe's border policies, according to The Playlist and Elk Film.
Plambech has worked as an anthropologist for nearly 20 years. That research background shapes her filmmaking. She previously presented Heartbound at Zurich in 2018. That film follows marriages between Thai women and Danish fishermen and won the festival's Golden Eye award.
Rescue was written by Plambech and Janus Metz. It was produced by Andreas Dalsgaard, Sofie Husum Johannesen and Tereza Šimíková for Elk Film, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Distribution has begun. Fandango Distribution has acquired the documentary, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. A collection for Hani and Roro's family had raised nearly 3,000 euros by the time of the premiere.
The response has been sharp. Plambech told The Hollywood Reporter she had received more hate on social media for posts about Rescue than ever before. She spoke during a festival that has put documentary in a prominent place, with a new section called Now/Future for feature films.
In Zurich, Plambech led the documentary jury. Cary Joji Fukunaga was named president of the separate feature film competition jury.
What makes this stand out for festival audiences is the structure. The sea rescue is only the start. The long wait that follows becomes the story.
