a cinematic spectacle on three screens
Directed and Produced by Scott Smith and Nettie Wild
Sept 9 to Oct 7, 2023
at qathet Art Centre
Mon, Tues, Wed & Sat 10am – 2pm
Additional screening day added: Thursday, Oct 5 – 10am to 5pm
GO FISH takes viewers inside the annual herring migration – when hundreds of millions of herring return to the Salish Sea. Their spawn paints a milky turquoise collar along its shores. For a few chaotic days, the Salish Sea is transformed.
The spawn attracts a formidable web offish, sea lions, birds and the fishing fleet that follows. GO FISH captures the patterns of this mayhem as the herring “set the table”and we discover the extraordinary cast of wildlife and humans who come to dinner.
A video triptych with immersive sound, GO FISH envelops viewers in the natural wonder of this annual spectacle. There are no interviews and no narration. Filmed underwater, topside and from the air, GO FISH plays across three screens – the story becoming a kaleidoscope of images and sound, framing the familiar with an unfamiliar frame.
Can an art installation cut through the reductive roar of social media to better explore the complexity of our relationship to the environment? GO FISH seeks to bring a curious lens to the power and wonder of the herring spawn.
GO FISH was created with the intention of being free public art. It was made with the help of the BC Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts, and with the participation of both environmentalists and the fishing fleet. We want people from all sides of the fishing debate to find themselves in the same room wondering at the full complexity of the spawn, and thinking about our relationship to it.
We respectfully acknowledge that GO FISH was filmed on the Unceded Territory of the K’ómoks First Nation, the traditional keepers of this land and sea.
qathet Art Centre is very grateful to the many individuals and organizations that came together to bring GO FISH to qathet. The world premiere of GO FISH took place at the Comox Valley Art Gallery (CVAG) in the spring of 2023. Contributions from many individual donors made it possible for CVAG to acquire the equipment necessary to present GO FISH. We are grateful to CVAG, Comox Valley Arts, public funders and individual donors who made the presentation at qathet Art Centre possible.
A video tryptich
14 minutes | 3 channel output
SCOTT SMITH + NETTIE WILD
Editor and Sound Designer – MICHAEL BROCKINGTON
Cinematographer – SCOTT SMITH
Composer – OWEN BELTON
Scott Smith
Co-Producer, Co-Director, Cinematographer
A graduate of the Canadian Film Centre in Toronto, Scott Smith launched his career in Canada with two award-winning feature films, rollercoaster (2000) and Falling Angels (2003), and has since developed a broad based directing career in film and television.
His documentary project As Slow as Possible (2006) re-introduced him to the camera based work that he began his career with, and the opportunity to return to this early love of photography was what compelled him to join Nettie as co-director and primary cinematographer of GO FISH.
As a part time resident of Hornby Island B.C., Scott embraced the opportunity to turn his lens on the natural phenomenon happening every year right outside his front door.
Nettie Wild
Co-Producer, Co-Director
A recipient of this year’s Governor General’s Award in Media Arts, Nettie is recognized as one of Canada’s leading documentary filmmakers. Her production credits include Koneline: our land beautiful (2016), FIX:The Story of an Addicted City (2002) and A Place Called Chiapas (1998.)
Nettie’s more recent work embraces digital art installations. She recently directed UNINTERRUPTED, projecting images of wild salmon onto Vancouver’s Cambie bridge. The international art magazine Wallpaper*called UNINTERRUPTED, “one of the world’s must-see public art installations of 2017.” In 2021, Nettie directed the conversion of UNINTERRUPTED into virtual reality. GO FISH is her first video triptych, co-directed in collaboration with film maker Scott Smith.