Patagonia's Fishpeople - A film about lives transformed by the sea.

Fishpeople tells the stories of a unique cast of characters who have dedicated their lives to the sea and the transformative effects of time spent in the ocean. It chronicles the story six people transformed by their experience with the sea. The six people profiled in the documentary include Kimi Werner, Matahi Drollet, Lynne Cox, Ray Collins, Eddie Donnellan, and Dave Rastovich.

Director

Keith Malloy

Featured People

Kimi Werner – U.S. National Spearfishing Championship (2008)

The ocean has long been a source of sustenance, inspiration and adventure for Kimi Werner. As a young child growing up off the grid in an isolated part of coastal Maui, she floated behind her father as he freedove for her family’s primary food source. Only later as an adult on Oahu did she understand the central role the ocean was to play in her life when she discovered her own passion for free diving. She is also a certified culinary chef, an award winning artist.

Interviewed
Kim’s dad: Chris Werner

If I did not going diving, we did not have food. It is hard to argue when you are underwater.

Mark Healey – Spear fisherman & Big Wave Surfer

Just Relax and remember how to swim.

When you are underwater, there is no street signs telling you which to turn or which way to go but in the same respect, the signs are everywhere.

Matahi Drollet – Tahitian Surfer

I love it, I don’t know how to describe it. It’s really scary but so good at the same time. And that’s why I do it.

Interviewed

Matahi’s Dad : Bjorn Drollet.
Matahi’s Uncle: Peva Levy
Kohl Christensen : Big Wave Surfer

Lynne Cox – American long-distance open-water swimmer

Swimming is like playing a musical instrument And you don’t know what the music gonna be until you are out there.

Lynne Cox is an American long-distance open-water swimmer, motivational speaker, and author. Over the course of more than 35 years, spanning a period equal to 8 Olympic Games, Lynne accomplished swims setting world records and opening borders, contributed to medical research, supported environmental causes, and inspired people to overcome great obstacles.

She is best known for her swim across the Bering Strait from the United States to the Soviet Union 7 August 1987. She twice held the overall record for the fastest crossing of the English Channel from England to France and has completed over 60 challenging swims around the world.

The swim opened the border between the US and Soviet Union. Both US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev hailed her accomplishment at the signing of the INF Missile Treaty at the White House.

She was the first to swim across the Strait of Magellan, around the Cape of Good Hope, across the Strait of Gibraltar, across Lake Baikal, Lake Titicaca and the Beagle Channel. Her 2002 1.2 mile swim in Antarctica broke boundaries and contributed to medical science.

Interviewed

Richard Friedman, MD – Weill Cornell Medical Center
Laura King, MD – Lynne’s Friend & Team Physician
Dr. William Keatinge – University of London

Ray Collins – Australian Ocean Photographer

In 2007 a tragic underground coal mining accident left him with a knee injury and for several months – unable to walk, it was then he discovered photography. Reading and re-reading the camera manual back-to-front helped him understand the processes of photography and how to interpret and manipulate light. As rehabilitation progressed he invested in a water housing to combine his new passion – photography, with his one true love – the ocean.

With the aim of shooting his friends surfing around his local area and a goal of getting a single shot published, within a few months he had captured the surfing worldʼs attention by gracing the front covers of several international magazines with his fresh perspective and his willingness to risk his personal safety to get the shot.

Interviewed

Phil Gallagher: Photographer
Stuart Nettle: Editor, Swellnet

The shot is the last thing in a chain of event. It comes from looking at weather maps, wind, tide, where the sun is gonna line up.

Eddie Donnellan – MeWater Foundation

Eddie Donnellan has spent his entire life surfing in and around the San Francisco region. In 2015, after working in residential treatment care for 22 years, he and his childhood friend Tim Gras founded the MeWater Foundation, a nonprofit with a goal to “educate, inspire and empower youth and families through the magic of Mother Nature.” Among the foundation’s work is a program designed to give young people more exposure to the beaches and waters around their hometown.

Interviewed

Shirley Sowell, Grandmother of one of the kids.
Niki Berkowitz – Clinician and Clinical Supervisor, Edgewood Center
Robin Randall, MD, MPH – Medical Director, Edgewood Center
Tim Gras, LCSW – Residential Counselor, Edgewood Center
Shana Sylva – Case Manager, Hunters Point Family

Dave Rastovich – Australian freesurfer

A renowned freesurfer and leader of campaigns against fish farms, offshore oil drilling and other threats to our oceans, Dave Rastovich lives near the water in rural New South Wales.

Interviewed