ABOUT THE MOVIE
Feature documentary – 2021 – Official Selection Cannes Film Festival
14-year-old Houlaye lives in Tatiste, Niger, and travels dozens of kilometers every day to fetch water. The village got together to obtain the construction of a well. This is the promise of a new life for these men and women who, unknowingly, have been walking on water since birth.
Director
Aïssa Maïga is a French actress revealed to the public with her role in Russian Dolls by Cédric Klapisch. She was then nominated for a César Award for Most Promising Actress for her role in Bamako by Abderrahmane Sissako. She is noticed in popular French comedies such as He Even Has Your Eyes or The African Doctor, or in intimate dramas shot in foreign languages. She was notably chosen to interpret dramatic parts in The boy who harnessed the wind, by Chiwetel Ejiofor and Taken down, by David Caffrey.
In 2021, Aïssa Maïga will star in the English series The Fear Index, the feature film by Andrea Bescond and Eric Metayer, Quand tu seras grand and the American film The man who saved Paris.
Aïssa Maïga co-directed with Isabelle Simeoni for television (Canal Plus) Regard Noir, a documentary road movie shot in Brazil, the United States and France about the place of black women in fiction and solutions for the inclusion of all talents.
Above Water is her first feature documentary.
DETAILS
- FRENCH THEATRICAL RELEASE – November 10th 2021
- DIRECTOR – Aïssa Maïga
- SCRIPT – Aïssa Maïga and Ariane Kirtley
- ORIGINAL MUSIC – Uèle Lamore
- PRODUCTION – Echo Studio, Bonne Pioche Cinema, France 3 Cinema
- DISTRIBUTION – Echo Studio, Orange Studio, Les Films du Losange
- PARTNERS – Amman Imman, Artelia, Famae, Fond des Céléstins, Proarti
Downloads
ACT
While water is an essential good, more than 2 billion people don’t have a direct access to drinking water today. This situation is getting worse every year, with water becoming scarcer and less safe due to climate change. ABOVE WATER is a documentary film that opens our eyes to the scale and urgency of the water crisis. It is also the starting point of an impact campaign that invites audience to take concrete action for better access to this essential resource for life.
Everyone can get involved around the film according to their possibilities : organize a screening-debate thanks to our educational kit, make a donation to organizations in Niger, pass on to schoolchildren the tools to understanding water issues, or even ask decision-makers to initiate systemic change on the water crisis… Aïssa Maïga’s documentary aims to initiate a large-scale surge. You also have the power to change things.