Wawata Topu

Four generations of women divers in Timor Leste

Wawata Topu is an award winning documentary that follows four generations of fisherwomen in the coastal village of Adara, West Ataúro, in Timor Leste. Known locally as Wawata Topu, meaning women divers in the Rasua dialect, these women have gradually become an essential part of the fishing tradition of their small coastal town. Armed with harpoons and nets, they dive into the waters of the Wetar Strait in search of fish to sell at nearby markets, sustaining their households and contributing significantly to the local fishing economy.

Directed and produced by David Palazón and Enrique Alonso, the film adopts a respectful and inquisitive ethnographic approach. Through intimate interviews and striking underwater footage, it documents their daily routines, economic practices, and vital concerns. The women speak in their own voices about cultural traditions, generational change, and the social barriers they face. Their lives unfold within a context of rapid transformation, shaped by the expansion of formal education, the consolidation of western moral values, and the possibility of alternative livelihoods not linked to the sea. These changes are forging an ongoing negotiation of household economic strategies that began with the oldest generation in the 1950s.

The documentary was screened in September 2013 as part of National Women’s Day in Timor Leste, where the protagonists received the Women of the Year Award from the Secretary of State for the Promotion of Equality. In March 2015, it received the Special Prize Chandrika Sharma at the 7ème Édition du Festival International de Films Pêcheurs du Monde in Lorient, France.