SYNOPSIS:

The coast of Mozambique Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is also a submerged cemetery preserving centuries of maritime history. From a 16th-century Portuguese galleon to pre-colonial vessels, the island’s waters hold the remains of shipwrecks that bear witness to both the wealth and tragedy of maritime trade. Among the most emblematic is the French slave ship L’Aurore, which sank in 1790 with more than 300 enslaved people on board, following an attempted revolt and a violent storm that struck the Mozambican coast. Since 2015, divers have been exploring the remains of this French slave ship—one of the most recently discovered and best-preserved wrecks. The expedition is coordinated by the Slave Wrecks Project, an international program of George Washington University and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). The initiative investigates the routes of the transatlantic slave trade and trains African and Afro-descendant archaeologists to document and preserve these histories of Black resistance. Through dives and scientific analysis, the team seeks to rewrite history by opening new perspectives on the slave trade. On Mozambique Island, they collaborate with CAIRIM, an archaeology and research center affiliated with Eduardo Mondlane University. The documentary team followed part of this investigation on Mozambique Island and also traveled to France, where they accessed historical archives and uncovered previously unseen documents about L’Aurore. These records help reconstruct the ship’s final voyage and shed new light on the events leading up to its sinking, as well as the resistance of the enslaved people on board.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR:

Sofia Leite is a Portuguese documentary filmmaker, journalist, whose work focuses on cultural heritage, history, historical memory, environment, and human communities. She has worked with RTP, Portugal’s public broadcaster, where she developed an extensive career as a journalist and documentary filmmaker. As writer and director, she has dedicated more than two decades to creating documentaries that explore the relationship between people, territory, identity, and memory, combining historical research with contemporary social perspectives. Her work has taken her across Portugal and abroad, documenting communities, landscapes, cultural traditions, and historical legacies. She has also participated in international television co-productions developed within the framework of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), including City Folk, Memorial Sites, and People on the Move. Sofia Leite holds a degree in Journalism from the École Supérieure de Journalisme (France) and studied Humanities in Sorbonne Nouvelle University, Paris. Her award-winning films include Slavonia, The Last Crossing (MATT Festival Award, 1998), The Return of the Osprey (North Alentejo Environmental Festival Award, 2001), Real Estate: The Cork Oak Plague (CineEco Award, 2001), Chorin’s List (Grand Gazeta Prize, 2007; Official Selection, BAKA Forum, Basel, 2009), and Water Flows, Stone Remains (Água Vai, Pedra Leva), Gazeta Television Award in 2015.