«Tarifa Traffic»

Tarifa, a city in the south of Spain. 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 smoth 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.

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.

A film by Joakim Demmer