Would you eat raw herring if offered? Many people might cringe at the very mention of it, finding it distasteful or unappetizing, but to the people of Holland it is tradition and something of a delicacy. Sprinkling the raw herring with chopped up onions, they gulp it down seal-style, relishing its flavor and taste.

However, the task of catching the herring by Dutch vessels is becoming something of an antiquated art form, one that is endangered in becoming extinct as fewer fish swim in the regions left open to Dutch fishermen. The feature documentary film Raw Herring, directed by the brother and sister filmmaking team Hetty Naaijkens-Retel Helmrich and Leonard Retel Helmrich (who is also the co-writer and cinematographer), and which had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival a little over a week ago, tells the struggling story of the last two remaining Dutch ships and their fishermen, who risk their lives every time they go out to sea in search of the herring.

Full of emotion, rarity and impeccable storytelling, the film is a beautiful cinematographic journey into the culture and traditions of a certain Dutch community. According to Hetty and Leonard’s directors’ statement in the press kit, they wanted to tell the story of those who rely on a specific way of life, one that isn’t common to the world today: “As filmmakers we are passionate about telling stories about small communities trying to survive in a fast-changing world.” But what makes this documentary truly unique isn’t just the story that it tells or the controversial fishing methods it shows, but the way it is told. Using single shot cinema, we, as the viewer, are put into the role of the observer, as if we ourselves are taking the fishing trip with the ship and film crews. And while this documentary might not have a wide release due to its niche subject matter, it is certainly worth watching on a breezy summer night if only for its innovative filmmaking and seeing the crew members prepare and eat raw herring.

Taking time out of their busy schedule, both Hetty and Leonard joined GALO for a Skype chat last week regarding their filmmaking techniques, their time on the ship, their upcoming projects, and of course, their own tasting of raw herring.

GALO: I thought that the documentary starts off in an interesting way and sort of ends on the same note, with images of seagulls diving into the water after fish and sort of an upside down camera angle taking it all in. It almost seems to defy physics. Why did you decide to focus on these scenes of wildlife before cutting to the opening scene on the boat?

Leonard Retel Helmrich: Well, the reason why we did this, is because I wanted to have a kind of a circle — what you see in the beginning, I deliberately used sometimes the same shots, so that you would understand what had happened in the beginning was also happening at the end of the film. [It is a statement on] the way that people treat the environment, they just get the fish and even though it is very hard to find them, the moment that the tanks of the fish are full — and even though they still have nets full of tons of fish — they just throw them away.

I was really shocked when I saw that. I’m not a journalist; I don’t want to make things that talk about it or put things into words — it has to be an image. I just want to make you feel what I felt by showing the shots and using the music and editing to show what I have seen. So that is why at the very end, you see the seagulls, because in the beginning you don’t see them diving for the fish, you don’t see what they’re diving for. But at the very end, you see that they’re picking up the fish and it is becoming less and less until it’s really empty, the ocean it’s empty. It’s up to the fishermen [to change things], because they’re just demolishing their own habitat, their own system and in the end they will go bankrupt because they cannot catch fish anymore. So that’s why I think this profession will become extinct, because they are demolishing their own source of living.

GALO: And how were those angles shot — the ones from water level and in the middle of the sea?

Leonard: I just used a long stick with a little camera on it, and I put the stick underwater and I was trying to follow the birds and trying to point at them, even though I couldn’t see what the image was. I tried to follow them in order to catch where they were swimming. It was very difficult to predict without seeing it, but it went very well. And I did the same thing when the people are getting the fish from the nets, moving them onto the machines; I am also going with the camera over it, flying over with the long stick, because I wanted to use camera movement to show what it is, moving from one thing to another, so you have an overall idea of how the whole system works.

GALO: While watching the documentary, I felt like some of the images filmed put the viewer in the perspective of the people on the boat — as if we were ourselves on it. The same could be said of the sounds captured, like the waves crashing across the boat. Was this your intention? To bring the viewer more into the story of the fishermen — make it a look into their humanity?

Leonard: Yeah, I deliberately do this with all of my films. I try to shoot it as an insider, as one of them, shooting from their point of view. Even though I don’t agree with the way they deal with their life or with the fish and everything, I still understand it — its tradition for them, they just follow up with the way they were taught by their parents and grandparents. And in that sense, I feel them being one of nature; you know, just one part of it. So, I wanted to be with them, even if I could not be physically close to them because it was a dangerous area — the place where they have the nets and are putting out everything and also the machines, you can easily get hurt if you don’t know how the system works, the ballet of how people do these things. That’s why I used this long stick to get closer to them. And I deliberately wanted to show it from their perspective and not do it in the same way as the Discovery Channel does it with their show Deadliest Catch, they use these long lenses and are away from these people, and I wanted you as the viewer to feel their breath, to feel as if you are among them. I wanted to make it more of a physical experience rather than just registering what you see on the screen.

(Interview continued on next page)