Episode of the Sea is the result of a 2 year collaboration with the fishing community of the former island of Urk in the Netherlands. The film documents the fishermen’s world and their struggle with public perception, regulation and market, while parallels are traced between fishing and image making.
Like artists, the fishermen are self-employed and therefore fall outside the social security system. To cope with the uncertainties of their trade they adhere to the principle of solidarity and a number of old agreements. For ever and a day, they have fished according to the shares system. All crewmen receive a fixed percentage of the revenue. In the months ending in ‘er’, the skipper hires his crew again for the coming year. September, October, November. That’s when the plaice begin their annual migration and the wind starts kicking up, too. If he wants to get rid of somebody who does not fit in, or is lazy, he will say, “Sorry mate, you’ll have to look for another ship, because I don’t need you anymore.” And if a crewmember himself wants to leave, these are the months when he will say so.
It is a spring day when a fisherman explains these customs to us. His father was a fisherman, he himself is a fisherman, and he would have liked his son to also remain a fisherman, but the lad decided that it was not worth it any more. Just as he tells us that the lineage has been broken, he receives a call. They have found a Pole, to replace his son.
Like artists, the fishermen are self-employed and therefore fall outside the social security system. To cope with the uncertainties of their trade they adhere to the principle of solidarity and a number of old agreements. For ever and a day, they have fished according to the shares system. All crewmen receive a fixed percentage of the revenue. In the months ending in ‘er’, the skipper hires his crew again for the coming year. September, October, November. That’s when the plaice begin their annual migration and the wind starts kicking up, too. If he wants to get rid of somebody who does not fit in, or is lazy, he will say, “Sorry mate, you’ll have to look for another ship, because I don’t need you anymore.” And if a crewmember himself wants to leave, these are the months when he will say so.
It is a spring day when a fisherman explains these customs to us. His father was a fisherman, he himself is a fisherman, and he would have liked his son to also remain a fisherman, but the lad decided that it was not worth it any more. Just as he tells us that the lineage has been broken, he receives a call. They have found a Pole, to replace his son.
