More than 40 years ago, Bas Jan Ader decided to go on an adventure. In a tiny sailing boat, the Dutchman set sail across the ocean. Nine months later the boat was found adrift at sea. There was no sign of Ader. It’s a story that has always fascinated filmmaker Martijn Blekendaal, not just because of the disappearance itself, but also because of the entire mystery that surrounds it. Blekendaal embarks on an investigation that follows his footsteps to Hollywood. It turns out that, in order to understand what drove this man to his fateful voyage, the filmmaker has to overcome his fear of looking beyond his own horizon. In a whirlwind montage of images jumping from one time, place and person to another, Blekendaal shows us that Bas Jan left behind something more special than just a mystery.
Luciérnaga de Plata
In the mid 19th century, Yankee whalers taught the sailors on the tiny island of Bequia in the West Indies how to catch whales. The once proud American tradition has been kept alive and cherished by Bequians generation after generation. For the last few decades outside pressures, overt and covert, have conspired against the whale hunters and those who rely on them. The stouthearted whalers simply seek sustenance for their community but also provide something else: identity.
A documentary on the life of the people of the Aran Islands, who were believed to contain the essence of the ancient Irish life, represented by a pure uncorrupted peasant existence centred around the struggle between man and his hostile but magnificent surroundings. A blend of documentary and fictional narrative, the film captures the everyday trials of life on Ireland's unforgiving Aran Islands.
The Pullars are the last family using traditional methods to fish for wild Atlantic salmon off the coast of Scotland. When these include killing seals, the salmon’s natural predators, conflict erupts. Animal activist groups Sea Shepherd and Hunt Saboteurs oppose the Pullars at every turn, despite the legality of the fishermen’s actions and the consequences to their livelihood. Challenging preconceptions, this ambiguous doc puts modern environmentalism under the microscope.
La Part des singes
With Pete Smith providing dry off-screen commentary, we watch some serious fishing: a marlin caught near Catalina, a hammerhead shark caught then wrestled in a small rowboat near Baja, the largest (721 pounds) great white shark caught to date in California waters, Chinook Indians catching salmon at Celilo Falls in Oregon - each with his designated place on the river where his ancestors stood, and, last, a crew on a boat off Mexico hoisting and hurling tuna using unbarbed hooks (baited only with a feather) as fast as they can as long as the school is there - backbreaking work - but a $25,000 catch.
Examines the devastating effect that overfishing has had on the world's fish populations and argues that drastic action must be taken to reverse these trends. Examines the imminent extinction of bluefin tuna, brought on by increasing western demand for sushi; the impact on marine life resulting in huge overpopulation of jellyfish; and the profound implications of a future world with no fish that would bring certain mass starvation.
This film narrates the story of a community on the coast of the Special Capital Region of Jakarta, experiencing the direct impact of land subsidence and global climate change that jeopardize their area. In an effort to face this crisis, they come up with a unique solution by using green mussels shells for raising the ground to prevent the disaster from engulfing their homes.
A look at the everyday life of Tahitian natives.
The Work completes the "quadrilogy" of South Seas seen over a twenty-year period. This film, tells the choral story of an island that in the short time of a generation loses its identity.
At a 2005 Carnival night, something mysterious happens at Porto Formoso bay, leaving the fishing boats wrecked. Fishermen decide to build bigger boats, but at the small village harbor it is impossible to deck them. They demand the construction of a new harbor, but many inhabitants are opposed due to a Castle ruins that lay there. If to some residents ruins look worthless, for others they are the village soul and future, as a lot of tourists would like to visit them...While the landscape transforms, we follow the Director voice through the story of the last seven years of this community.
Twenty years after a beloved local fisherman, Richie Madeiras, goes missing off the shores of Martha's Vineyard, a distant cousin locates Richie's kind, indelible spirit in the stories of family, friends, and the sweeping sea which has defined their lives. A stirring, lyrical journey beneath the brusque, reticent surface of a New England fishing community.
This RKO Sportscope series short presents two sportsmen fishing for striped bass.
Eight years ago director Daan Jongbloed stumbled upon an abandoned farm, which surprisingly was inhabited by 97-year-old farmer Peer. The peacefulness and sobriety in which Peer lives fascinated Daan tremendously. His view of Peer’s rural lifestyle is rather idyllic, but to Peer this is reality. Why does he live the way he does? Who is Peer and what’s troubling him? In an attempt to understand Peer and his perception of life Daan has followed him on and off for the past eight years. Peer cautiously reveals a glimpse of his lonely life and disturbing past.
A documentary on the beauty of nature on Texel, especially highlighting the many birds on the island.
With spring, the first lapwing eggs appear. A short impression of the Friesian tradition of egg collecting.
Portrait of Arnhem destroyed by war. Citizens and volunteers clear the rubble and start the reconstruction of their city.
The ruined harbor of Rotterdam obstructs the recovery of The Netherlands after the war. Rapidly and with borrowed strength the harbor takes its rightful place in the city of Rotterdam.
A boy tries invain to get aboard a fishing boat. Gazing over the water he imagines a life aboard.