Down the Line
Where will the fishing industry be without the next generation? Will the youngsters realize what is at stake before it is too late?
The past, present, and future of the Scottish fishing industry as lived by a father and son working side-by-side on a trawler, at the mercy of the North Sea.
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If you would like to see the film or set up a screening, please let me know.
Production took place over the course of a week in March 2013. The shoot saw my cameraman (Duncan Cowles) and I travel north to the Shetland Islands where we were given the opportunity to accompany the crew of commercial fishing boat the Mizpha, skippered by David Robertson, for a four day trip. This saw us sail into the North Sea from Lerwick, on the East of Shetland, before having to change course in order to head round the South of the island, into the Atlantic, due to adverse weather conditions.
I am very grateful to the crew of the Mizpha for giving us the chance to tag along with them. I am sure we got in their way on more than one occasion, but being such a humble and generous bunch, they didn't give any indication that this was the case. The amusement of my cameraman and I trying to find our sea legs was probably enough to let everything else slide.
That being said, we survived the experience by the skins of our teeth, and as a result both of us returned with a considerably denser volume of chest hair.
SCREENED
- Screenplay Shetland - Lerwick | September 2013
- Write. Shoot. Cut. - Edinburgh | November 2013
- Open City Docs - London | June 2014
- Gartmore Film Fest | November 2014
SHORTLISTED
The Skinny and Innis & Gunn Short Film Competition | July2014
(www.theskinny.co.uk/film/short-film-competition/short-film-competition-shortlist-2014)
The Producers
Stuart Condy and Sara Forbes founded Arpeggio Pictures back in 2011. Since then they have been producing and developing various shorts and music videos, independently and commissioned, culminating in a diverse portfolio of work.
I met this delightful duo back in 2011 while working on their first venture into the world of producing, the short fiction Rabbit Punch (directed by Neil Hartop). The atmosphere on set was always so jolly and laid back, yet things got done. I liked their working mentality and it was far from being unnoticed.
Time went by before we spoke again, in fact , it was Rabbit Punch that brought us back together when it won the Bafta New Talent Award for Best Short Fiction in early 2012. A few months later I began researching Down the Line in Shetland and happened to bump into them at an Edinburgh Film Festival party the night before I left for a research trip. The seeds of intrigue were planted from this brief chat and the rest was history.