TÒ SU / Martina Mahlknecht & Martin Prinoth: Below Deck
Germany/Italy, 2024
Duration: 23 min
Language: English
© TÒ SU
We shouldn’t actually be here. In the belly of a passenger ship with the Filipino crew who are rehearsing a play. Millions of Filipinos work on cargo ships and cruise liners. We’ve read that somewhere before; seen, not really. Not even in the cruise ports of this world such as Venice, Hamburg, Amsterdam or Miami, where they often land, change ships or cargo or, during Covid, even got stuck for months. We belong on the sun deck, with territorially spread out towels and flip-flops. S and A class. Kate and Leonardo. Or rather: Kate and – further down towards the engine room – the staff. The eternal world order of the Titanic.
More than one-third of all crew members worldwide are Filipino, living and working below deck for several months without any days off. As an addressed observer of a quirky crew show rehearsal, you find yourself in a Lynchian scenario, oscillating between being a secretly invited guest and a voyeur. What persists is the question: Shouldn’t we risk the glimpse behind the curtain to discover what remains hidden from our perception?
