Underplayed Gems

Herring Hunt (1953)

Herring Hunt poster
Directed by
Julian Biggs
Genre
documentary
Country
Canada
Runtime
11 min
Rating
8.0 of 10 from 2 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

A documentary short about the crew of a fishing trawler in British Columbia. It shows their race to catch herring before the season closes and the hard work and risk involved in their job.

workmanlikesteadymatter-of-factcooperativetensegroundedobservational

What happens

Herring Hunt (Les Harenguiers) is a 1953 short documentary film directed by Julian Biggs and produced by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). The film tells the story of the fishing trawler Western Girl, and her captain and crew. Western Girl is typical of the ships that fished the coastal waters of British Columbia, and Herring Hunt follows the skipper and his men in their race to get their catch before the quota is taken and the fishing area closed for the season. We see the cooperation necessary in a job that's extremely hard work and full of risk; there is big money to be made in herring when the catch is good, but the cash outlay required is equally large and one man's error can lead to a heavy loss for the boat's owner. Herring Hunt was part of the NFB's Canada Carries On series, which was meant to propagate Canadian ideals of democracy and promote the Canadian image abroad. The films in this series had larger budgets than most, and some of the documentaries included dramatization. Herring Hunt is one such documentary; the skipper is played by the actor Bruno Gerussi. Herring Hunt was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film (One-Reel) at the 26th Academy Awards. It was also awarded a special mention at the 6th Canadian Film Awards, and a Second Award in the Agricultural and Industrial films category at the 1954 Yorkton Film Festival. The film is available for online viewing care of the National Film Board of Canada. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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