All production stills via All Theory No Practice

Sea of Ash is a new short film from South African visual artist and filmmaker Michael MacGarry that re-imagines German author Thomas Mann’s 1925 novellaDeath in Venice within the context of African migration across the Mediterranean. Filmed in various locations throughout Italy, Mann's Tadzio becomes a young West African refugee who has survived the treacherous sea journey into Europe. Running at just over thirteen minutes, the narrative follows Tadzio, played by Senegalese actor Pape Babacar Kebe, from the mountains of northern Italy to the Venetian coast where he embarks on a doomed attempt to return home.

MacGarry recently told Design Indaba that "[his] work principally concerns the ongoing ramifications of imperialism on the African continent.” His previous short Excuse Me, While I Disappear won the El Rey Award for Excellence in Narrative Short Filmmaking at the 2015 Barcelona Film Festival. Sea of Ash will premiere at the FNB Joburg Art Fair in September 2015. Watch the film's trailer below.