Suez Canal

There’s going to be a documentary about the 14 ships stranded in the Suez Canal during the Six-Day War.

I Catch Productions

I Catch Productions are making the film for Al Jazeera. They are currently in the UK interviewing former seafarers who lived through the experience of being marooned on the merchant ships as war broke out between Israel and Egypt.

New books

When I set out to write the remarkable story of the ships’ eight-year sojourn in the Great Bitter Lake, I hoped that others would pick up on it and produce books and films. There are books in production in Poland, Slovakia and Sweden, and now this documentary.

Egypt’s role

I Catch Productions are based in Egypt. When artist Uriel Orlow started researching the story for his 2014 art installation, he travelled to Egypt to find out about it. But few had ever heard about the ships stranded in their country’s waters all those decades ago. Yet Egyptians played a central role in the story, supplying the ships throughout the period they were trapped. And in 1974, Egyptian divers undertook the difficult and dangerous tasks of clearing mines from the canal to prepare it to be reopened once again.

I am delighted that this documentary will bring the story to the awareness of a new generation in Egypt and elsewhere.