Turning Tides

Nanook of the North

June 1922 •English

This pioneering documentary film depicts the lives of the indigenous Inuit people of Canada's northern Quebec region. Although the production contains some fictional elements, it vividly shows how its resourceful subjects survive in such a harsh climate, revealing how they construct their igloo homes and find food by hunting and fishing. The film also captures the beautiful, if unforgiving, frozen landscape of the Great White North, far removed from conventional civilization.

Seaspiracy

March 2021 •English

Passionate about ocean life, a filmmaker sets out to document the harm that humans do to marine species — and uncovers an alarming global conspiracy.

Cacu: A Change for Life

October 2019 •Spanish

Five fishermen from Manresa, a poor neighborhood to the West of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, learn from marine biologist Omar Shamir Reynoso's one-of-a-kind plan to protect nesting sea turtles.

River Monsters Presents: Killer Catfish Extended Cut

May 2010 •Dutch

The Pearl Fishers

May 1960 •Japanese

Documentary about Japanese pearl fishers.

To the Sea

February 2010 •Spanish

Before leaving for Rome with his mother, five year old Natan is taken by his father, Jorge, on an epic journey to the pristine Chinchorro reef off the coast of Mexico. As they fish, swim, and sail the turquoise waters of the open sea, Natan discovers the beauty of his Mayan heritage and learns to live in harmony with life above and below the surface, as the bond between father and son grows stronger before their inevitable farewell.

Koka

April 2024 •Russian

Somewhere on the coast of the Bering Sea, a father and son make a living fishing in a community that seems almost outside of time. Aliaksandr Tsymbaliuk’s camera takes us in close to the subjects, recording both the harshness of their condition and the rigour of education, softened by paternal love and the universal insouciance of childhood.

Tarpon

January 1973 •English

The first of the modern fishing films, shot in the wild panorama of 1970s Key West. Colorful scenes of Key West from another era - with treasure hunters, smugglers, hippies and eccentrics - are background to stunning cinematography and tarpon fishing at its finest. Authors, Richard Brautigan, Tom McGuane and Jim Harrison join with legendary flats guides, Woody Sexton, Gil Drake and Steve Huff.

The Shiranui Sea

January 1975 •Japanese

The sea around Minamata was heavily polluted with mercury during the 1950s and 1960s from the Chisso Corporation's chemical factory. This highly toxic chemical bioaccumulated in shellfish and fish in the Yatsushiro Sea which, when eaten by the local populace, gave rise to Minamata disease. The disease was responsible for the deaths and disabling of thousands of residents, all around the Yatsushiro Sea. The marine ecosystem was also extensively damaged.

Until the End of the World

February 2024 •Italian

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, along with other international organizations, is leading efforts to increase aquaculture by encouraging countries around the world to invest in its development. However, local communities strongly oppose the expansion of fish farms due to resource depletion and water pollution concerns. From Italy to Greece, Spain to Senegal, and all the way to Patagonia in Chile, their journey to uncover the truth extends to the ends of the earth.

Leviathan

August 2012 •English

An experimental portrait of the North American commercial fishing industry through the lens of GoPro cameras placed on a fishing vessel off the coast of New England.

Against the Tide

January 2023 •Marathi

Two friends, both Indigenous fishermen, are driven to desperation by a dying sea. Their friendship begins to fracture as they take very different paths to provide for their struggling families.

Seadrift

January 2019 •English

On August 3rd, 1979, a Vietnamese refugee shoots and kills a white crab fisherman at the town docks in Seadrift, TX. What began as a fishing dispute erupts in violence and ignites a resurgence of the KKK and open hostilities against the Vietnamese along the Gulf Coast. Set during the early days of Vietnamese refugee arrival, “Seadrift” examines the circumstances that led up to the shooting, its tumultuous aftermath, and the unexpected consequences that continue to reverberate today.

The Lonely Dorymen

April 1968 •English

For more than four centuries, young Portuguese fishermen have followed their fathers to the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and in recent years to Greenland’s banks to fish the cold waters for cod. Intrepid men, set off for the Banks on schooners under full sail, then adrift in a flat-bottomed dory, they bait the hundred of hooks of their long-line, oblivious to fog, rain and Arctic wind, they labour 18 hours a day and haul up cod by the score.

F.I.S.H.I.N.G

August 2012 •Dutch

One million Dutchmen (out of 16 million) play soccer. Almost two million fish at least once a year. Fishing might be the most remarkable sport in the world. The documentary V.I.S.S.E.N (FISHING) dives into the world of Dutch fish and fishermen. Above and under water, on the IJ, at the coast, on the North Sea, in the cities, in the polder and on and by lakes and rivers. The film is a personal, filmic search for the “primordial fisher” in mankind and a portrait of the Netherlands by and on the water. V.I.S.S.E.N is also about what moves the fishermen. Who are the people that fish? Is fishing a hobby, a sport, an escape or a primordial instinct one cannot repress? What goes through your mind when you fish, when you catch something, or when you do not catch anything. And: what's it like for the fish, getting hooked?

Land of Little Rivers

October 2019 •English

The Land of Little Rivers, a network of tributaries in the Catskill Mountains of New York, is the birthplace of fly fishing in America and home to anglers obsessed by the sport.

Atlantic

February 2016 •English

Documentary about the two big resources in the North Atlantic, fish and oil, and the impact of their exploitation on the environment in various countries on both sides of the Atlantic.

Fish: Farming in Troubled Waters

February 2014 •English

Fish are an important part of the ecosystem and the human diet. Unfortunately, overfishing has depleted many fish stocks, and the proposed solution — fish farming — is creating far more problems than it solves. Not only are fish farms polluting the aquatic environment and spreading disease to wild fish, farmed fish are also an inferior food source, in part by providing fewer healthy nutrients; and in part by containing more toxins, which readily accumulate in fat. Farmed Salmon = Most Toxic Food in the World Salmon is perhaps the most prominent example of how fish farming has led us astray. Food testing reveals farmed salmon is one of the most toxic foods in the world, having more in common with junk food than health food.1 Studies highlighting the seriousness of the problem

Una corriente salvaje

October 2018 •Spanish

Chilo and Omar seem to be the only two men on earth. They live on a solitary beach and their constant activity is fishing to survive. Their friendship, surrounded by sensuality, becomes a kind of a love story. Through their conversations and their relationship, the film explores and portraits human condition.

Violated Paradise

June 1963 •English

A modern geisha travels through Japan trying to find a job as entertainer, and ends up by finding love and a job as ama, a pearl diver.