Tarifa Traffic: Death in the Straits of Gibraltar (2003)

Tarifa, a city in the south of Spain, Europe's southernmost point, early morning. The wind surfers sail across the clear blue sea and the first tourists are taking their places in the deck chairs. Only a few steps away a dead body is being tossed up on the shore by crashing waves. They come when there is a full moon and a smooth sea. These are the nights of the "pateras", the motorboats that try to cross the Strait of Gibraltar in the dark. They are filled to the hilt with ever-more people from Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa. Many cannot swim and have nothing except for the clothes on their backs. And it doesn't take much for an overfilled boat to capsize or sink, leading to a catastrophe. From a European perspective and with haunting images, the film looks at the people of Tarifa whose everyday life is influenced by the constant flow of illegal immigrants looking for a better future in the fortress that is Europe.