THE STORY
A charismatic abalone poacher. A dead son. A broken love story. Three story-lines bound together by a single theme: the curse of the abalone. Abalone is an endangered marine snail that’s prized as an aphrodisiac and status symbol in China, but illegal harvesting has disastrous consequences for the traditional fishing community of Hawston near Cape Town in South Africa. This small mixed-race fishing community is suspended in a limbo between their traditional lifestyle, daily survival and the trappings of a corrupt and brutal enforcement apparatus that has left countless victims in its wake.

‘Between the Devil and the Deep’ presents a window into the hearts and lives of three mixed-race families in a traditional fishing community that’s suspended in a limbo between traditional lifestyle, daily survival and the trappings of a corrupt and brutal enforcement apparatus, which has left countless victims in its wake.

PRODUCTION INFORMATION
Director: Heinrich Dahms
Producer: Michèle Aimé
Co-producers: Steven Dhoedt, Gert van Berckelaer, Herma van Boven
Camera: Johan Bosgraaf
Sound: Peter Suyderhoud & Raf Enckels
Editor: Heinrich Dahms

Duration: 93 minutes
Language: Afrikaans with English & Dutch subtitles
Format: (DCP) 2.35:1 with 5.1 Surround Sound
Current status: Completed
Release Date: January 2015
Production: BUZZMEDIA NETWORK (buzzmedia.net )
Co-producers: VisualAntics (Belgium) / Evangelische Omroep (NL)
Funding: Netherlands Film Fund, Flemish Audiovisual Fund, CoBOfonds
Target Audience: Art-house audiences between 35 and 65 with interest in poetic character-driven narrative cinema, marginal communities and the environment.

Cast: Heinrich Dahms

Tags: cape town , south africa , diving , scuba diving , abalone , poaching , poachers , gangsters , china , shark , great white shark , heinrich dahms , documentary , film , movie , whales and aphrodisiac