Fishing Without Nets

February 23, 2012 10:49 AM

"There are two ways to fish, with nets or without. But if I fish with violence, will my nets be full of blood?" Fishing Without Nets is a short film about Somali pirates from their point of view, which won the recent Sundance Jury Prize in short filmmaking. The film will tour film festivals, and may be worked into a feature-length film. Writer/ producer/ editor Cutter Hodierne told his story of filming in Kenya to Vice.

Funded by his filming of U2 on tour in 2009, Cutter Hodierne went to Kenya to research a feature-length film about Somali pirates from their point of view. Hodeirne went with his friends and film collaborators John Hibey and Raphael Swann, where the three men were robbed on Swann's first night in Kenya. That experience, and the three and a half months spent filming Fishing Without Nets changed Hodierne's view of Somali pirates from his early romanticized view to a more nuanced understanding.

"When I arrived there, and I started living among these guys — and getting robbed and stolen from myself — I started to realize it wasn't this simple. There's a sliding scale of morality that exists in a place where people are very desperate, and I started to change my perspective on how I viewed the pirates."

You can see 27 other videos from Cutter Hodierne on his Vimeo account, including a rough video called Abdi Buys Gun, subtitled Somalialand, which might be the lead actor in Fishing Without Nets, a 17-year-old ­named Abdi.

posted by filthy light thief (7 comments total)

Now this is amazing. Thanks, flt!
posted by mykescipark at 11:15 AM on February 23, 2012

Yeah thanks, another interesting post.
posted by Stagger Lee at 11:54 AM on February 23, 2012

By telling the story from the pirates' perspective, Hodierne admits, the film may ask its audience to empathize with a character who's doing wrong.


Dunno about that. It worked for The Wire, among others.
posted by jquinby at 12:13 PM on February 23, 2012

Yeah I think it's a really good idea.

I was curious as to why he decided to do fiction, when there are undoubtedly so many stories already waiting to be told with a little bit of digging. It seems like perfect documentary territory, maybe dramatized.

But fiction is fun too, I just hope that it doesn't get all carried away and hollywoodized. If not, I could imagine it being a really interesting film in the style of City of God.
posted by Stagger Lee at 12:16 PM on February 23, 2012

Presumably because it would have been too dangerous to go to Somalia proper.
posted by KokuRyu at 12:20 PM on February 23, 2012 [1 favorite]

The NPR coverage (a more nuanced understanding) says "Hodierne traveled to Somalia for research but shot the film in adjacent Kenya." Somalia was more dangerous for a prolonged stay, especially if he wanted to film and use real weapons.

Also, in the trailer, it looks like a lot of the guys are chewing khat' (or qat), which the cast, all Somali refugees living in Kenya, insisted we provide khat on set every day (linking to the Vice article). In case you were wondering.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:34 PM on February 23, 2012

Interesting to see the Vice crew, over the years, producing really relevant stuff and great art in a sea of, well, the other things they produce. Can't wait to see this.
posted by fake at 1:13 PM on February 23, 2012