Stolen Seas

The documentary takes up piracy off the coast of Somalia. The work tells the story from close up. Part of the material comes from audio recordings. Found video footage is used as well. At the centre of the account is a real hostage negotiation. The ship taken is a Danish cargo vessel. The ship is called the CEC Future. The ship was taken in 2008 and its crew numbered thirteen. The negotiation ran for seventy days. On one side was the shipowner Per Gullestrup. On the other was the pirates’ negotiator Ishmael Ali. The director spoke with both of them. The film listens to relatives of the hostages and to specialists as well. How the piracy came about is inside the account too. Thymaya Payne’s documentary of 2013 is a Canadian, Danish, Estonian, Philippine, Somali and American coproduction, and it runs ninety minutes.