Cutter Hodierne’s short film about Somali pirates, Fishing Without Nets, was a 2012 Sundance grand jury prize-winning short. We were so blown away by the film that we decided to team up with Cutter to produce a feature film. Cutter and his crew returned to East Africa to shoot a full-length Fishing Without Nets. They came back with an entrancing and humanizing look at Somali pirates through the eyes of the pirates themselves.
Fishing premiered at Sundance yesterday to glowing praise. After a night of much-deserved celebration and revelry, we woke up this morning to rave reviews from Variety, Associated Press, the Wrap, the Hollywood Reporter, and lots and lots more.
The film follows Abdi, played by Abdikani Muktar, a fisherman who—after pollution spoils the waters generations of his family have counted on for fish—uses the last money he has to smuggle his wife and son out of the country, towards a better life. Desperate to join them, Abdi succumbs to the allure of the quick money to be made as a pirate. His experience as a fisherman gives him the knowledge about shipping lanes that the hijacking party needs. Reluctant, but determined to rejoin his family, Abdi sets off to capture an oil tanker and take its crew hostage.
Cutter's film is deeper than the standard blockbuster: it brings a complex, temporal beauty to the action-thriller genre. To get a taste, check out Cutter's original short below.