Wild Summon film-makers on their ‘method directing’ approach to telling a salmon’s story
Film-makers Karni Arieli and Saul Freed took a “method directing” approach to their latest film – an eco-fantasy about the life cycle of a wild salmon.
Pitching Wild Summon to the British Film Institute, the husband-and-wife team took a bold approach: “We went into the office and just said, ‘We want to become fish’.”
Pic: Karni Arieli and Saul Freed. Pic: Sulkybunny
It paid off and they got the gig.
Moving to Iceland to learn how to dive in a bid to get the most authentic portrayal, it was a true family affair, with their eldest son, Yuli, taking on the role of drone cinematographer on the shoot.
The 14-minute animated short, which premiered at Cannes film festival and is executive produced by Don’t Look Up director Adam McKay, went on to be shortlisted for an Oscar, and is up for a BAFTA this weekend.
Hailed as a new form of a nature documentary, it combines animation with live-action underwater photography, anthropomorphising the salmon, and her babies.
Taking us on a journey through rivers and out to sea, our heroine is transposed into the body of an athletic female swimmer.
Freed says it was a new approach they felt compelled to try out: “We’re always looking for fantasy in our work… when you come to think about the life of the salmon as a human, all these situations come to light, which are just brilliant…
“We’ve seen a lot of beautiful natural history documentaries showing nature in its glory. We think we can build on top of that, show a new angle, let people connect to wildlife in a different way.”
Arieli adds: “It’s flipping the narrative on its head, because in the end, we empathise with things that are like us, that are in human form. And so, giving a salmon that you might not look too closely at a human female form, creates a sense of connection and empathy.”
She says getting the animation just right was critical: “Not too fish, not too women, not too live action, not too animation.”
Sadly for the salmon, our close association with them as a source of food doesn’t lead us to naturally connecting with their fight for survival.
Arieli explains: “The salmon is super sensitive, and they’re overlooked because people love to eat them.”
Depicting the negative human impact on their world – in addition to growing threats caused by climate change – was an important part of their message.
Pic: Sulkybunny
Arieli says: “Beyond the 50 predators that the salmon has on this journey from birth to death, man is one of its biggest problems – pollution and farming and overfishing.”
Nearly a quarter of the world’s freshwater fish are at risk of extinction, according to a report published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature late last year.
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Additionally, it showed that wildlife populations have plummeted by 69% since 1970, and more than 41,000 species are under threat of extinction.
A moment in the short where the heroine finds herself confronted with a fish farm is according to Freed “probably one of the most powerful moments in the film” and one which they could give more weight to that moment, thanks to her human-recasting.
Pic: Sulkybunny
Pic: Sulkybunny
Arieli says: “Once you give a fish human form and you put them in a cage and it’s too crowded, you get these other metaphors, not only about how we look at nature but about how we look and treat each other as humans. And that’s another deep meaning within the layers of the film.”
With the self-scored music as the film’s emotional heartbeat, blending Middle Eastern influences with the Nordic landscape visuals, the narration was provided by singer and actress Marianne Faithfull.
Searching for an “iconic voice”, Arieli says she was the perfect casting as an “artist, a mother, a woman, a fighter and a survivor”.
Pic: Sulkybunny
Before plumping for Faithfull, they “went through a lot of different options” including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, English anthropologist Jane Goodall and Icelandic singer and composer Bjork.
So, what’s the message they hope audiences will take from the film?
Arieli explains: “We’re not trying to tell people what to do or to be preachy… We’re trying to tell people to just look closely at these things, and how we interact with these elements, whether it’s farming or fishing or what we’re eating, and to make small choices, because I think we have to.
“We’re a lot more interconnected than we’re led to believe in the Western world.”
She says the short had a real impact on their youngest son, Teo, who “stopped eating fish and any seafood after making this film with us”.
Pic: Sulkybunny
And while the climate crisis message can sometimes seem a little bleak, Freed says there’s light at the end of the tunnel.
“The story’s hard… but although we do see her die in the end, the last shot of the film is the new generation, a new baby, so for us, it’s a happy end.”
With a potential eco-series in the pipeline, Freed and Arieli are philosophical about their BAFTA hopes this weekend, borrowing a metaphor from the fish star of their film: “It’s all about the journey.”
Wild Summon can be streamed for free on Bafta’s YouTube until 20 February.
Watch the full interview on The Climate Show with Tom Heap, Saturday and Sunday at 3.30 and 7.30pm on Sky News.
British Airways (BA) has paused its sponsorship of The Louis Theroux Podcast following an interview with Bob Vylan’s frontman.
Pascal Robinson-Foster, one half of the controversial punk duo, told Theroux in an episode which aired earlier this week that he was “not regretful” of chanting “death, death to the IDF [Israel Defence Forces]” at this year’s Glastonbury.
He added that he would “do it again tomorrow, twice on Sundays”.
British Airways said on Saturday that the content “breaches” its sponsorship policy and has since paused its advertising on the podcast, the Jewish News first reported.
An airline spokesperson said: “Our sponsorship of the series has now been paused and the advert has been removed.
“We’re grateful that this was brought to our attention, as the content clearly breaches our sponsorship policy in relation to politically sensitive or controversial subject matters.
“We and our third-party media agency have processes in place to ensure these issues don’t occur and we’re investigating how this happened.”
Bobby Vylan crowd surfs during his performance at Glastonbury Festival. Pic: PA
Following Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury performance, the band were dropped by a number of festivals and performances including Radar festival, a show at a German music venue and their US tour after their visas were revoked.
The comments were condemned by the US as a “hateful tirade” and “appalling hate speech” by British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
The BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit has since found the broadcast of Bob Vylan’s set breached editorial standards related to harm and offence.
The band have also had to reschedule dates of its upcoming We Won’t Go Quietly UK tour in Manchester and Leeds after Jewish leaders and politicians called for the show to be postponed.
Theroux has not commented on BA pausing its sponsorship of his podcast. Pic: AP
In a statement on Facebook, the group said: “Due to political pressure from the likes of Bridget Phillipson and groups in the Northwest of England we have had to reschedule our Leeds and Manchester shows.
“All tickets remain valid and all other shows are continuing as planned.”
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Calls for Bob Vylan concert to be cancelled
When asked by Theroux, Vylan said he was taken aback by the uproar the chant has caused, saying: “It wasn’t like we came off stage, and everybody was like [gasps]. It’s just normal.”
He added that he wanted an end to “the oppression that Palestinian people are facing”.
Read more: Who are Bob Vylan?
Despite the criticism, the group have seen support from fans, with their album Humble As The Sun re-entering the charts and climbing to number one in the UK Hip Hop and R&B album category.
A spokesperson at Mindhouse Productions – which was founded by Theroux and produces The Louis Theroux Podcast – has not commented on the BA sponsorship, but told Sky News: “Louis is a journalist with a long history of speaking to controversial figures who may divide opinion.
“We would suggest people watch or listen to the interview in its entirety to get the full context of the conversation.”
Entertainment
‘People want you to stay in your lane’: Reese Witherspoon on her ‘deeply personal’ decision to write a novel
It is “pretty surreal”, Academy Award winner Reese Witherspoon admits, finding herself at the top of The New York Times bestsellers list.
When I meet the actress alongside her co-writer, best-selling author Harlan Coben, overnight the pair have learned that their thriller is now at number one.
He jokes: “I was texting her last night and saying you’ll now have to call yourself number one bestselling novelist, forget about Oscar winner!”
Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben told Katie Spencer about their novel Gone Before Goodbye
As one of the most successful authors in the world, Coben has sold over 80 million books to date, while for Witherspoon this is new ground.
Not content with running a hugely successful production company responsible for a string of hits, as well as one of the most successful book clubs in the world, she explains she felt compelled to give writing a try.
“People want you to stay in your lane… as a creative person I think it’s impossible to just choose one kind of life.
“Creativity is infinite and who I was as a creative person when I was 20 is very different from the person I am now at 49.”
Gone Before Goodbye, a thriller about a talented surgeon who finds herself caught up in a deadly conspiracy, is the result of Witherspoon daring to put her head above the parapet.
Witherspoon says she felt compelled to give writing a try
Coben admits he was “a little wary” at first.
“I don’t co-write novels but when she made the pitch and started talking about it, I was like ‘dang that’s good, we can do something with that’.”
While countless celebrities work with ghostwriters, Coben says: “I said to her from day one ‘it’s only going to be you and me in here… no third person in here, I don’t do that’. So every word you [read] comes from Reese and me.”
Coben has sold over 80 million books to date, while for Witherspoon this is new ground
Witherspoon explains: “He was like ‘if we’re going to do this, it’s going to have to be at a really high level because people going to expect a lot, so our bar was really high.”
“I said to her, in the beginning, novels are like a sausage,” Coben laughs. “You might like the final taste, but you don’t want to see how it was made and Reese got to see the full sausage getting made here.”
Read more from Sky News:
Bob Vylan’s gig postponed
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When it came to writing, Coben says they “fell into a rhythm right away”, working together in three-hour stints, “back and forth with a yellow legal pad – what about this? What about that?”
Coben says they ‘fell into a rhythm right away’
Witherspoon says it “feels really deeply personal” to have their work now in print.
“Usually, as an actor, I walk into other people’s worlds and it’s already set up… but this was creating the whole world with Harlan and just from beginning to end feels very personal.”
While the story seems an obvious fit for being adapted to the screen, perhaps with a certain blonde actress in the leading role, Coben says that was never their intention.
“The biggest, biggest mistake novelists make when you write a book is to say ‘this would make a really great movie’. A book is a book, a movie is a movie, and we both focused on wanting this to be just a great reading experience.”
Given that their collaboration is already selling in big numbers, will the pair team up again to write a second?
Witherspoon says: “Let’s just see what people think of this one first.”
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