Write a short summary of what happens in the film

A ship is 90% steel, making it a valuable source of scrap steel for construction. But dismantling ships is dirty, dangerous work. And it’s done in Bangladesh because labour is cheap and regulations are lax. What’s a bank got to do with shipbreaking? We help change how things are done in shipbreaking by making higher safety standards a condition for securing finance. It’s just one of the ways we make industries around the world better from within.

Cultural/Context information for the jury

For the music composition, we wanted to capture the immensity and grandeur of the ships we were seeing, including the duress that the workers face on a daily basis in the shipbreaking yards of Bangladesh. They survive the day, only to try again to survive tomorrow. So we composed a piece of music that would support and amplify these feelings.

Tell the jury about the elements of sound design.

Using low drums and the sounds of bowed and scrapped steel to open the track, we gave the viewers a sense of things to come. From there we added a Bansuri, a Bangladeshi flute to give indication of where we are – the shipbreaking yards of Chittagong, Bangladesh.
Then to contrast, we added layers of modernity on the traditional flute, with a low electronic synthesizer to place emphasis on what’s happening in the moment.
As the immensity of the vessels is revealed, we added Tam Tams and Gongs; to roll and sweep in at the majestic sight.
Main percussive section begins as we cut inside the ship. West African skin percussion is doubled with Surdo and Dabruka, and the haunting voice of a Bengali vocalist permeates the ships, a heartbreaking ode to the men who risk their lives to break ships.