‘Marcher sur l’Eau - Aissa Maïga’

In northern Niger, the village of Tatiste, a victim of global warming, is fighting for access to water. Every day, fourteen-year-old Houlaye walks for miles to fetch water. This daily task prevents young people, and others, from regularly attending school. The lack of water also forces adults to leave their families each year to search over the borders for the resources they need to survive. However, this region has an underground aquifer lake of several thousand square kilometres. And all it would take is a borehole to provide access to water and a better life for everyone.

Aïssa Maïga is a French actress and director who first became known to the public with her role in Les poupées russes (Russian Dolls), directed by Cédric Klapisch. She was then nominated for a César Award as Most Promising Actress for her role in Bamako, directed by Abderrahmane Sissako. Aïssa Maïga, together with Isabelle Simeoni co-directed for television Regard Noir, a documentary road movie shot in Brazil, the United States and France on the place of black women in fiction, proposing solutions for the inclusion of talent of all kinds. Marcher sur l’eau (Above Water) is her first feature-length documentary.