Newlyn International Film Festival Programme

Download or print off the programme.

There will be series of screenings of shortlisted and prizewinning films in each category throughout the festival, together with a number of talks by leading filmmakers on documentary and emergent forms of film. Special screenings of SW Film-makers, Poetry films and Student films will also be featured.

Timetable

Friday 6th April The Centre Chywoone Hill, Newlyn, Penzance, Cornwall. TR18 5AR

4.00pm Welcome and Registration/Tea
5.00pm Di Taylor and Anthea Page Cornish Film showing
Man Engine/George Lloyd from Redcliffe films
6.00-7.30 pm Pizza Supper break and reception
7.30 -8.30 pm Student Film Showing
8.30-9.30 pm Animation Film Showing

Saturday 7th April The Centre Chywoone Hill

10.00 am Coffee
10.30 – 11.30 am Talk: Keeping Your Head Above Water by
Jon Dovey
11.30 – 11.55 pm Talk: The Raven Flies
12.00-1.15 pm SW Film-Makers Film programme showing

1.00pm -2.30 pm Lunch and Networking (homemade lunch available from the festival cafe:quiche and salad £5.00.)

2.30 – 4.15 pm Fiction Films Introduction: Maria Livesey
4.15 – 4.45 pm Tea, cakes and networking/4.15pm to 4.45pm Lyn Aubrey
Living on the Edge documentary about living in a quarry near St Just.
4.45- 5.15 pm Talk: Book of Hours from Lucy English
5.15 – 6.00 pm Poetry Film showing
6.00 – 7.30 pm Supper
8.00pm till late Festival Party 7.30 until late/ 9.00 pm 
Badlands Blues Band Penlee Bowls Club. Entry (£5.00 on door)

Sunday 8th April

10.30 am-12.30 am Tolcarne Inn Tea, cakes and networking (Ticketed but
free)

The Centre Chywoone Hill

1.00-1.45 pm Talk: Documentary and Truth Telling
Colin Thomas
1.45-3.15 pm Documentary Film showing (Introduction Jon
Dovey and Colin Thomas)
(tea coffee and cake from the Festival cafe available
during the afternoon)
3.15-4.15 pm Winners Compilation
4.15-5.00 pm Awards and Judges feed back Q&A

Monday morning and Newlyn wakes to see most a the fleet at sea, inshore fish on the market, and a visit from an old friend.

Early morning flypast...

over the still waters of the Bay...

while surprise number two was the fact that the keel was still firmly sat on the bottom at high water......

on the market this morning most of the fish was from the inshore trawler fleet apart for the big beam trawler Billy Rowney with a good shot of ray...

and the netter Britannia V and her haul of monk, turbot and ray...

and a a few boxes of hake to boost thew boy's earnings...

no doubt with only a handful of quality bass on the market from Cap'n Cod they will make top dollar this morning...

the beam trawlers always pick up a few bags of scallops in their travels...

unusually, the inshore trawlers seem to be catching more Cornish megrim soles these days, though this may be due to the fine weather allowing them to work that much further off in better trawling grounds...

all set for the scales, one more turbot...

gets logged in the book from the Myghal...

with five dredges a side......

the Neptune is more typical dredgers found working in the south west...

than the UK's largest scallop trawler which landed at four am this morning with a surprise on board...

young Will Gillespie (ex-Filadelfia) has the honour of skippering this giant of the scallop world...

as he surveys his domain from the huge wheelhouse...

the boat sports two sets of conveyors - which take the scallops and fish below decks to be picked out, sorted and stored in the fishroom - which also has a freezing capability - within minutes of the gear being hauled...

the gear needs constant attention...

from the crew in order to maximise catch rates...

as the boat moves around the coast of the UK in search of the right kind of grounds for scalloping...

greasing the running gear is hugely important as the boat hauls around 25-27 times a day, towing at the most for one hour at a time...

with a side of gear weighing every shackle, splice and link are checked on a regular basis...

film work continues for the ITV series currently being shot in Newlyn with some of the first summer mackerel being caught on camera by none other than Barry who featured on the cover of Salt of the Earth...

which captured in glorious black and white photographs the fishing community who make their living going out Through the Gaps every day...

Barry gets a chance to see himself in action as the mackerel came in over the rail...

and being a fisherman means he is always  keen to spot a better way if doing things...

then it's time to lend a hand getting the film gear ashore...

before he gives up objecting to being manhandled and allows himself to be mic'd up...

ready for the cameras to roll...

and the next piece of, 'a day in the life of Barry Ede' is captured on film...

while his fellow handliners wash down their boats and head back to sea.

Film Festival - Pecheurs du Monde, Lorient

If you happen to be in Lorient, France between the 22nd and 25th of March then make sure you visit Pecheurs du Monde, the only film festival in Europe devoted to fishing around the world!


The Festival is a special cultural event that offers new or very recent films dedicated to the sea people of the world. These films introduce the public to magnificient areas full of dreams and freedom where tragedy and hardship exist but also happiness and wonder. 


The Festival is a place of debates and exchanges. It not only invites us to discover images of the sea but also to debate on the main economic, social and environmental questions related to the fishing industry. Since its creation, more than one hundred movies dedicated to fishing and fishermen from all over the world were showcased. The Festival has also awarded and honored many French and foreign directors . The Festival is also a meeting place for all those who love the sea. Each edition gives the fishermen the possibily to speak about themselves. It enables the workers from the sea to introduce their world to the audience, to express their love for their jobs and to share their hopes and fears. After each film, debates are encouraged with the directors, fishing professionals, scientists and of course the public. 


The Festival wants to introduce the young generations to the fishing world. The active participation of young people is encouraged. The students from the Lorient highschools are welcomed at the Festival where their enthousiasm is always very appreciated. The future of Fisheries lies also in the ability to pass on existing know-how and capacities.

Ben Loyal tuna video.

Looking for a better start to the season, first trip of the year for the Ben Loyal sees her steam home in a gale of wind with around 500 top quality albacore tuna.

This is the current postion of the Spanish albacore tuna fleet - off the edge of the 'Shelf'!

Tuna fishing update - Gloria Maris

It seems the video clips of the Petite Marie Claude fishing for tuna have provoked plenty of interest in the Breton ports of Douarnenez and beyond.
In particluar, the fourth video has a sequence where the skipper and crew appear to have some sort of altercation with other boats, at one point a firecracker is seen being thrown in the water by the skipper. I have added a narration kindly provided by Jacques Blanken, a Douarnenez fishing historian who has tried to make sense of the incident recorded in the film.

Voici un essai d'analyse...

Le premier bateau filmé (film n°4), le rouge et blanc est à l'évidence un basque (l'avant est frégaté et la passerelle au milieu, typique du pays basque Français ou Espagnol), les deux suivants sont soit Audiernais, soit Douarnenistes et apparemment, l'un d'eux (le bleu) se met devant la Petite Marie-Claude, ce qui énerve l'équipage et au delà, a au moins deux effets
1° Risquer d'embrouiller les lignes lorsque la Petite Marie-Claude relèvera son poisson mais surtout
2° Lui "piquer" son poisson... ou au moins le faire partir...
Je pense que celui-là est peut-être bien un Audiernais... Ensuite on en voit un autre (blanc) vu de côté, navigant de conserve, ce doit être un Douarneniste. Mais ce n'est que pure hypothèse. Au passage, il est intéressant de voir qu'en pêche, pour ne pas trop rouler, tous les bateaux envoyaient deux ou trois voiles!



Suivent quelques images des lignes (mais on ne voit pas les perches) et deux bateaux très loin au large et effectivement après, il semble qu'il y ait une excitation à bord. Manifestement on n'est pas content et on voit d'ailleurs sur l'image suivante, pendant que le patron parle à l'équipage une zone d'évitage ce qui semble confirmer que le bateau va ailleurs... ou est obligé de manoeuvrer ! Puis la scène se termine par l'envoi par dessus bord de ce qui semble effectivement être un pétard...et on voit de nouveau le bateau bleu qui pêche très près, sur babord arrière et va donc passer là ou a été envoyé le pétard... 


Serait-ce une vengence pour faire fuir le poisson ? Il faudrait avoir le témoignage d'un des matelots pour savoir exactement ce qu'il se passait...Après on (plie les gaules) en fait, on love les bas de lignes pour rentrer, pêche finie. Car en pêche on est à 4 ou 4,5 noeuds et en route on est à 9/10 noeuds...Toilette... et arriviée à Douarnenez avec les mauritaniens au port et sur le slipway !

Bonne journée
Jacques


Here is a translation of the explanation provided by Jacques:

In the fourth film, the red and white boat is obviously a Basque (the bow is typical of the Basque Country or Spanish), the other two are either Audierne or Douarnenistes and apparently one of them (blue) goes to the Petite Marie-Claude, which upsets the crew and appears to have two effects:


1 the potential to cross the lines when Petite Marie-Claude hauls his fish up but mostly


2 he pinches the fish ... or at least takes them from the Petite Marie-Claude


I think this one is perhaps an Audierne (a gentle sneer)... then we see another (white) from the side, navigating according to the rules of the road, it must be a Douarneniste - but this is pure speculation. Incidentally, it is interesting to see that while fishing, they all have two or three sails set to steady them.


In the next scene are some views of the lines (but you cannot see the poles) and, in the distance, two boats, when it seems that there is an agitation on board. Visibly they're not happy and we see also in the next shot, while the skipper is talking to the crew, a wash in the water which seems to confirm that the boat has turned hard or was forced to manouvre! Then, the scene ends by the skipper throwing what appears to be a banger and again we see the blue boat that is fishing close to the port quarter who will then pass where the firecracker was - is this revenge or an attempt to scare the fish? We should have the testimony of one of the crew to find out exactly what happened.  


The final scenes show them stowing the poles and lines ready to return, fishing over. When fishing, the boat does 4 or 4.5 knots and they are steaming at 9-10 knots, spending the time cleaning down the boat while heading for home. When arriving in Douarnenez you can see several big Mauritanian langoustiers in the port and one on the slipway!


Alain Gourret has also sent over a photo of Newlyn's own ex-tuna boat, the Gloria Maris, now Ben My Chree when she was working from her original port of St Guenole. Her decks appear freshly painted so this could be the first trip for the season when the chances are she would steam as far south as the Azores - there are several 40 gallon drums (fuel?) on the deck and a ladder at the foremast to aid fish spotting - unlike the giant tuna pursers with their helipads today!


Gloria Maris steaming with tuna poles rigged.
©Gildesein

Vessel details from the French equivalent of Olsen's Almanack.
©Gildesein




  

Two Mousehole videos from the 1920s.

A Through the Gaps blog reader very kindly pointed us in the direction of these two short films from the 1920s looking at the tiny fishing village of Mousehole.


The films are part of the South West Film and Television archive - they are always keen to add material to their growing collection - contact them if you can help or would like more information. "We hold nearly 130,000 films and tapes, dating from the start of film making in the 1880's to the present day and covering every aspect of life in the South West of England.

We want as many people as possible to see and enjoy the unique moving images that we safeguard, and we work with a number of partner organisations to make this happen.

At the moment, the database of SWFTA's collection is only searchable in-house. If you are looking for films on a specific subject, date or place, please get in touch, and our staff will advise on availability. We are working towards providing this facility online in the future.

We can also provide advice about films and tapes that you own."

Files subsequently removed owing to © Copyright issues.