North American Premiere

Minding Sand

In this short observational film, anthropologist and filmmaker Laura van Erp plunges us into the world of sand miners and fishermen on the beaches of Sierra Leone. Through dialogue and landscape shots, we witness a “working-class” life intrinsically linked to an environment that is disappearing due to climate change and increasingly intensive mining. Minding Sand is an essential film that reminds us of the current tension between the Anthropocene, ecocide, and the survival of populations in the so-called “Global South.”

Directed by

Laura van Erp

2024 | 30 min | English (s.t. English)

Featured selections

Visual Encounters (Amsterdam)
Ethnofest (Athens)

Filmmaker’s country : The Netherlands
Country of filming : Sierra Leone

Organized and presented in collaboration with McGill’s Critical Media Lab (CML).

*The screening will be followed by a discussion with filmmaker Joseph Dahdah and Christine Chevalier-Caron.

Trained as a historian and sociologist, Christine Chevalier-Caron is head of research at Exeko. She is interested in the construction, deconstruction and reconstruction of historical narrative. Through this process, she questions mechanisms of exclusion and inclusion, as well as representations and their impact on social relationships. Christine currently leads research-creation projects in which she uses the arts to convey the voices of groups excluded or stereotyped by the dominant narrative. In addition to her work at Exeko, Christine teaches history at Collège Ahuntsic and Université du Québec à Montréal.