Walking Under Water (Poland/Germany/U.K.)

Eliza Kubarska’s dazzling look at a dying civilization thrusts us out to sea and under the Southeast Asian waters with an uncle teaching his nephew the old ways of diving—deep!—for fish. The nomadic Badjao’s methods, with long compressor tubes, primitive motorboats, and flat flippers, are fascinating, but by adeptly weaving in the breathtaking seascapes and the uncle’s storytelling about a magical underwater people, Kubarska lifts it all to a mythological level. The value of what’s been caught on film becomes all the more pronounced in the final act, when the men return to shore, to a crowded, tourist-dependent village on the decline.

Vancity Theatre, September 27 (4:45 p.m.), 29 (7:45 p.m.), and 30 (10 a.m.)