Fri., 12/19, 7 p.m., NB Whaling National Historical Park, 33 William St. Featuring “Striker’s Passing.” FREE.
In Striker’s Passing, filmmaker Jeremy Mayhew creates a poetic and powerful portrait of the New England harpoon swordfisherman and his fate in the modern world. Centering the film around his father, one of the last swordfish strikers on the East Coast, Mayhew presents a personal documentary sharing rare insight into the beauty and frustration of a life dependent on the sea and its resources, facing extinction in the wake of the current fishing industry’s industrial-scale harvesting methods.
Resonating the atmosphere of a world few of us get to know, Striker’s Passing offers unforgettable footage of a swordfishing voyage taken in the summer of 1997 from the tiny fishing village of Menemsha on Martha’s Vineyard through the old whaling capital of New Bedford and on to the fishing grounds of Georges Bank, two hundred miles out in the Atlantic. As generations of his ancestors have done before him, Captain Gregory Mayhew takes his sons Todd and Jeremy as his crew, along with soundman Steven Dufala.
The film creatively weaves poignant interviews with family members and Menemsha fishermen into a visually stunning tale of the sea, while enveloping us with a haunting soundtrack developed solely from the natural sounds of the sea and from the boat itself.
About Dock-u-mentaries: Hosted in partnership with New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park, Dock-u-mentaries is a free film series hosted at the National Park auditorium at 33 William Street in downtown New Bedford on every third Friday at 7:00pm from October through April. These films have explored a variety of themes and topics related to the commercial fishing industry and the working waterfront.
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