þetta reddast

An experimental film about the vanishing of herring, mysterious herring die-offs in Arctic fjords, and the absence of gay/trans elders in the lives of young LGBTQ+ people. Part historical analysis, part poetic extrapolation, the work takes on the perspective of herring themselves and dramatizes the cultural memory of schooling fish as young queers, witnessing environmental and political change along the coasts and trying to find their way. þetta reddast (“everything will be okay”), is an optimistic position taken by fisheries policymakers, but the fish themselves face other realities. Cultural memory, the primary driver of fish school migration routes, is interrupted by overfishing and crisis. Without older fish with knowledge of migration routes to show younger herring where to swim, schools disperse and leave remote fjords and bays forever.

View excerpt of winter preface here: https://vimeo.com/516685282/a40687864b