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PIFF 42 Official Selection

Lifeboat

Directed by Skye Fitzgerald

Oregon, United States • 2018 • 34 mins. • In English

“As long as we rescue some people, that’s worth doing.” This hopeful statement was made in a tragic environment by Captain Jon Castle as his non-profit vessel, Sea-Watch, traversed the Mediterranean in search of refugees escaping war and poverty in over-crowded rubber boats. Over a period of three days, 3,200 people were pulled from the sea as part of a humanitarian crisis that set the world ablaze. Director Fitzgerald covertly guides viewers into this world of life and death to meet those being saved and those lending a hand to save.

Appears in: 42nd Portland International Film Festival

The Northwest Film Center recognizes and honors the Indigenous peoples of this region on whose ancestral lands the museum now stands. These include the Willamette Tumwater, Clackamas, Kathlemet, Molalla, Multnomah and Watlala Chinook Peoples and the Tualatin Kalapuya who today are part of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, and many other Native communities who made their homes along the Columbia River. We also want to recognize that Portland today is a community of many diverse Native peoples who continue to live and work here. We respectfully acknowledge and honor all Indigenous communities—past, present, future—and are grateful for their ongoing and vibrant presence.