A container ship leaves Mozambique, retracing the final route of the Portuguese slave ship São José Paquete de África. In December 1794, the ship sank off the coast of Cape Town while transporting enslaved Mozambicans to Brazil. Two hundred and twelve people drowned, their legs in shackles.
Aboard the modern vessel, an international crew of seafarers carries out its daily operations under the silent observation by a Mozambican woman. As the ship sails down the South African coastline, the film enters ports built on the profits of coal, sugar, cars and agriculture. At each container port, industrial landscapes are confronted by the violent histories of exploitation on which they were built.
Cape Town
Durban
