An Outlaw with a Cause

Raphaela Morais ’22 won an Emmy Award for her documentary on a boat of asylum seekers leaving Libya in search of a place to settle in Europe.

Raphaela Morais doesn’t work on documentaries to earn recognition. As part of the Outlaw Ocean Project, her goal is to bring to light the issues that occur in the world’s oceans.

Serving as executive producer for the nonprofit’s latest film, Get Away from the Target—Rescuing Migrants from the Libyan Coast Guard, Morais (pictured behind the Emmy) and her team provided an inside view of a boat of asylum seekers leaving Libya in search of a place to settle in Europe.

The documentary captures a high-stakes showdown between a ship run by Doctors Without Borders, which is attempting to rescue and escort the migrant boat to safety, and the Libyan Coast Guard, which is fighting to imprison the asylum seekers.

At the 43rd News and Documentary Emmys in September, the film won in the Outstanding Crime and Justice Coverage category. It took a few minutes for the news to sink in to Morais.

“I was just shocked sitting there, because I wasn’t expecting to be called on stage,” she says. “It’s such a huge accomplishment for our team, and it’s great to see what [the Ocean Outlaw Project] has accomplished in a short time.” 

Morais, who has a master’s degree in marketing intelligence from TU, is the graphic design director for the Outlaw Ocean Project. Along with working on documentaries and investigative journalism, she helps the organization reach a younger audience by leveraging non-news platforms.

“Through TU’s marketing intelligence program, I learned that there are different ways we can reach our intended audiences,” she says. “We don’t want to be popular or famous; our reporting is important, and we want people to hear about it. It feels like I’m working on something that matters and has a purpose.”