Dave Not Coming Back

Jonah Malak's 2020 documentary concerns deep dives in the Boesmansgat cave in South Africa. Don Shirley and Dave Shaw were close friends; during a record dive Shaw found the body of a diver who had been lost years earlier. The two decided to go back to recover it. The documentary questions that decision: the distance between a promise made to a family and the reality of nearly three hundred metres sits at the centre, and the planning of the dive is shown in detail. The dive itself was recorded and the documentary uses that footage. Shaw did not come back; Shirley barely survived and describes it before the camera. Who it's for: those who follow diving and expedition documentary. Who it's not for: viewers uncomfortable with real footage of a death being shown.