Above the Waterline – Films

Obras muertas

Elisa Sepulveda Ruddoff
France, Chile | 2026 | 72 min
World premiere
Language : Spanish
Subtitles : French, English

In northern Chile, where the desert meets the ocean, a few solitary fishermen have made their home. Despite the arid land, the sea seems to offer them everything they need. It is a fragile balance, since this haven of freedom becomes an arena for military exercises every year. With great precision, Above the Waterline deciphers both a territory and a resistance.

In Cifuncho, in northern Chile, an isolated coastal territory where desert, ocean, freedom and fate intertwine, solitary fishermen, outcasts and couples on the run have chosen to live a life apart. With no electricity or drinking water, they depend entirely on the sea, which is both nourishing and dangerous. Once a year, the Chilean navy enters the bay to conduct its military exercises, disrupting the scenery, the ecosystem and the precarious balance of the village. With infinite precision, the territory gradually becomes a character, the seasons, winds and light sculpting the narrative. We get to know its inhabitants in their uniqueness, their actions and their solidarity. Constructed over time and on trust, Above the Waterline places the human at the centre and constructs a mirror image of the invader, the danger, as a distant, undefined and dark mass. Here, the free choice to inhabit the margins clashes with the logic of control and appropriation. Faced with the increasing militarisation of the territories and collective imagination, the film sheds light on possible acts of resistance.

Anne Delseth

Above the Waterline, 2026