The film was directed and produced by David Palazón and Enrique Alonso, with the support of Mario Gomes (production assistant), Nelson Turquel (photographer), Nuno da Silva and Beatriz Marciel (scuba-divers) and Fredrik Stürmer (graphic design). The film is subtitled in English, French, Spanish (courtesy of Bea & Kike), Portuguese (courtesy of Fundação Oriente in Dili), Italian (courtesy of Giacomo & Julia) and German (courtesy of Jan-Patrick Fischer). 

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In September 2013, the film was screened as part of National Women’s Day in Timor-Leste; during the event the protagonists received the Women of the Year Award by the hand of the Secretary of State for the Promotion of Equality. In March 2015, the film received the Special Prize ‘Chandrika Sharma’ at the 7ème Édition du Festival International de Films Pêcheurs du Monde in Lorient (France).

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Wawata Topu means women divers in Rasua —one of the three dialects spoken in Atauro Island. It is said that the deep body of water of the Wetar strait is the place where wrong doers meet their fate and are swallowed up by the sea only to re-emerge as part-fish part-human (Barrkman, 2017). The myth of the mermaid is very much embedded into the local folklore of this remote island. As a matter of course, the film triggered the curiosity of many who adventured themselves to Atauro Island with the desire to meet the mysterious fisherwomen and —as a consequence— it inspired the production of a few more documentary productions featuring the famous women divers. Here is a selection:

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• Príncipes do Nada (RTP1, 2016) presented by Portuguese TV celebrity and UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador Catarina Furtado.

• Timor-Leste from Below (Scubazoo, 2018) presented by Aaron Gekoski.

• A la rencontre des peuples des mers – Timor : les Wawata Topu (Dècoupages, 2018) presented by explorer Marc Thiercelin and broadcasted in ARTE TV in France and Germany in 2018 and 2021.

• Life – Menschen, Momente, Geschichten (RTL, 2018).

• The Last Coral Kingdom by Cristina Mittermeier (Only One Ocean Collective, 2020)

• Culture Quest (PBS, 2021) by Ian Grant.

• Women divers of the Atauro Island (SLICE, 2021). A remake of the 2018 film produced by Dècoupages.

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The film is available on several online platforms including FilmDocumentaire and GuideDoc. It has been acquired by a few public libraries worldwide with interest in visual anthropology studies, including the library at the University of Melbourne, University of Cologne, National Library of Australia and the University Center of Westfjords in Iceland. In March 2017, the film was featured as part of the exhibition ‘The Sculptures of Atauro Island’ at Charles Darwin University Art Collection and Gallery.

For those interested to know further, the academic papers below provide a more in-depth analysis of this project:

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• ‘Linking Gender, Diving and Filmmaking: Conceptualising Film Outcomes as Narrative Capital Gains in the Making of Wawata Topu (Women Divers) in West Atauro, Timor-Leste‘ published in Asian Fisheries Society, 2016.

• ‘Ethnographic filmmaking as narrative capital enhancement among Atauro diverwomen: a theoretical exploration‘ published in Development in Practice, 2016 Vol. 26, No. 3, 262–271.