Fishing Dreams

Learn the best methods to catch smallmouth bass in this VHS video from the early 1980s.

Set at an artificial reservoir in North Carolina, RESERVOIR (SEVEN FRAGMENTS) is a meditation on the unnatural histories of the American environment. The film approaches both the cinematic image and the landscape it captures as damaged, estranged things—things adrift in a world of irreparable discord.

“All that which in Picture is not of the body or argument thereof is Landskip, Parergon, or By-work” (Thomas Blount, Glossographia, 1656).

Formally eclectic, the first few seconds of the film seem to introduce us to a typical sensory documentary, but soon the flow of the narrative evolves into a much more complex portrait of the port of Paita, by concatenating recordings made by the author himself, videos generated by an AI, Google Maps views and archival images.

Documentary filmed on the occasion of the “2003, Odyssey in Space Zero” operation inside the Spazio Zero Theater in Rome. The document, filmed between 21 October and 30 November 2003, recounts the representation of Fotofinish not as a single and continuous work, but as the evolution over time of the moods and movements of the actors who, replica after replica, have developed an awareness of the space and arrived at the joy of staging.

The film is divided in four parts and traces the history of the Icelandic fishing industry from the Middle Ages to the present day.

Experimental video art shot in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle

Pedro is Mallorcan, born to a mother from Burgos and a father from Mallorca. Due to his distant relationship with his father, Pedro doesn't fully master Mallorcan as a language. He turns to the works of Damià Huguet to remember his father, as only his poems can fill the void left by his death. The poet's words transport Pedro to his childhood and his roots, even though many of the words are unknown to him, despite them belonging to his language. This becomes the driving force behind the protagonist's search for his own identity, his origins, what it means to be a man, father-son relationships, collective identity, and "mallorquinness". Pedro constantly questions the emotions stirred by Huguet's poetry, and, most importantly, who he is and where he belongs.

Sword Fishing is a 1939 short documentary film about a group of fisherman, including Howard Hill, "the world's greatest archer," who go in search of marlin off the California coast. With fishing line attached to his arrow, Hill plans to spear the fish, which would then be brought aboard the boat by rod and reel. In 1940, the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film, One-Reel at the 12th Academy Awards.

Jan receives the group patch at the campfire, Herkules brews up some tea in the workshop and Sidney gets a mohawk haircut done by his father. The film shows fragments from an Oberhausen subculture in which symbols and practices of the outlaw motorbiker scene are transferred to cycling.

Kristallklar tells the tale of a hidden river holding wild brown trout near the border of Luxembourg and Germany. Find out about this magical river from the perspective of Kirill, who recently acquired the lease to the fishing rights of the river and a small tributary thereof. It captures the essence of a fly fishing adventure on the river embarked on by the incredibly passionate Kirill and two companions: Nic, a fly fishing scientist and Simon, the filmmaker. The film tries to capture the feeling of the magnificent surroundings and being at peace on the river. It also delves into topics of conservation of nature and the plans to re-stock the river with native crayfish which vanished from the river. A lot of love went into this film the hope is that it inspires those around the world to find a love for the outdoors and to preserve it for many years to come and just to get out there and fly fish.

A fishing instructional video from 1996.

Arktis is a poetic approach to the bizarre landscape of ice, rock, and water; a journey to the arctic ocean and surroundings, with images and sounds. Seventy one-second scenes of the arctic serve as the original material, which is then transformed in its texture, time lapse, color and light qualities to create a material reminiscent of landscape painting. The sound collage uses fragments from sounds of nature and samples from a piece of music for violin and song, which are also transformed in a manner similar to that of the visual pictures. (Jürgen Reble)

Hansjürgen Pohland's short documentary is an audiovisual study that captures events and people on the streets on film. The special feature of the work is that the people and objects are portrayed exclusively through their shadows.

Jonas Mekas recites poems of his, both in English and Lithuanian. Exclusive Mekas interview by the poet Sparrow. The legendary poet-film critic and film diarist waxes philosophical in rare extended setting exhibiting his transcendental poetic humor. Jonas attacks the crass world of TV advertising and sell-out commercial filmmakers. Contributes zen anecdotes and filmmaking advice. Choice clips include Mekas' Film Diaries with deceivingly formalist amateur "home movie" style, but in small bursts of expression in a quick collage. Footage from Jonas' homeland as well as clips of famed pop figures John Lennon, Yoko Ono and Tiny Tim.

A spate of robberies in Southern California schools had an oddly specific target: tubas. In this work of creative nonfiction, d/Deaf first-time feature director Alison O’Daniel presents the impact of these crimes from an unexpected angle. The film unfolds mimicking a game of telephone, where sound’s feeble transmissibility is proven as the story bends and weaves to human interpretation and miscommunication. The result is a stunning contribution to cinematic language. O’Daniel has developed a syntax of deafness that offers a complex, overlaid, surprising new texture, which offers a dimensional experience of deafness and reorients the audience auditorily in an unfamiliar and exhilarating way.

It’s now 40 years since the end of the Cod Wars between Britain and Iceland. During the 1950s and 60s, Britain consumed 430,000 tons of cod each year, but as the stocks started to diminish the livelihoods of fishing communities in both countries were at stake. Iceland took steps to protect their fishing industry - the mainstay of their economy - resulting in the three so-called Cod Wars. This was a David and Goliath struggle, where the small fleet of Icelandic gunboats were pitted against the British trawlers and the Royal Navy in the North Atlantic. This Icelandic film, made in 2001, tells the story from both sides and reflects on the impact of the Cod Wars in Grimsby and Hull.

A compilation of interviews, rehearsals and backstage footage of Michael Jackson as he prepared for his series of sold-out shows in London.

From Germany to Italy, the United States to Île-de-France, Jumbo/Toto, Stories About an Elephant shadows the itinerary of a single forgotten animal, an African elephant doubly-named Jumbo/Toto. Jumbo, as he was called on German colonial ships,at the Amerikakai port of Hamburg, and in Carl Hagenbeck's zoos; Toto, as he'd come to be known with great fame in fascist Italy. An urban investigation and an adventure film, a ballet of flora and fauna and pavement and sea, Jumbo/Toto, Stories About an Elephant is a modern epic of the joy and pain of the 20th century set in what still remains strange and unknown: the 21st century, and the solitude of telling a story.

A photographer shares unpublished images chronicling time spent among the 'fiercely independent' residents of a remote English fishing village.