Rabo de Peixe (OmeU)

Global industrial overfishing has caused significant problems in the village of Rabo de Peixe in the Azores, where small-scale fishing has long provided a livelihood. This situation plunges Pedro, a young master fisherman, with a crisis in his professional life, over and above the inherent dangers of working at sea.
“Footage was originally shot between 1999 and 2001 with support of a public broadcaster. Our approach was not well received and we were asked to remove all scenes that according to them ‘gave a bad image of fishermen and fishing communities’. A 55-minute version was then produced and broadcasted once by the Portuguese public television.
Fourteen years later, industrial methods have replaced traditional fishing tackle. Rabo de Peixe’s small port has been destroyed and a huge structure intended for industrial fishing has been built with EU funding. The scale of these changes made us want to re-edit the movie according to our original plan. Our new feature version is designed to do justice to the bravery of the young men depicted and their struggle to maintain a cherished tradition.” (Joaquim Pinto, Nuno Leonel)