Fishing

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode swap film reels for fishing reels, to ponder why fishing onscreen has got us hooked. The net is cast wide to consider everything from industrial scale fleets showcased in films like The Perfect Storm and long running series, Deadliest Catch, to more leisurely endeavours like The River Runs Through It, and the BBC’s Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing.

With guests, Mark Jenkin, John Lurie and Gagga Jónsdóttir.

Mark speaks to Cornish film director Mark Jenkin about why fishing has continued to have such a strong presence in his films, and how the industry has often been romanticised onscreen. Jenkins 2019 feature debut Bait dramatised clashes between tourists and locals in a once flourishing fishing village, and in his newest film, Rose of Nevada, a fishing vessel lost for 30 years mysteriously reappears in a derelict harbour.

The actor, painter and frequent Jim Jarmusch collaborator, John Lurie, shares with Ellen how his 90s cult TV show, Fishing With John, hauled away the conventions of late night cable fishing shows, and what it was like onboard with the actors, Dennis Hopper and Willem Defoe.

Ellen also talks to the Icelandic writer-director, Gagga Jónsdóttir, about her documentary, Strengur, and some of her unexpected cinematic sources of inspiration. The film follows the journey of four teenage girls challenging traditional gender roles on the River Laxá, as seventh generation angling guides.

Producer: Mae-Li Evans
A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4