August 6, 2018 –Filmmaker David Wittkower knew he had to do something or his commercial fishing documentary “Dead in the Water” might indeed be dead in the water.
Following eight months of showings throughout Massachusetts and other parts of coastal New England, Wittkower’s film, which traces the erosion of the once-proud Gloucester groundfish fleet, was largely rejected by most of the film festivals the director tried to enter.
The over-arching criticism was that the film lacked balance, failing to properly include the perspective of federal fishing regulators — most specifically the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries — and environmentalists as the counterpoint to the already powerful message of an industry in trouble.
Wittkower, who produced the film with former Gloucester Mayor John Bell and Angela Sanfilippo of the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association, also received feedback that the film — at 80 minutes — was just too long to be easily included in the lineups of films assembled by the various festivals.
So Wittkower, originally from Rockport, went to work. He shortened the film from 80 minutes to one hour and added additional perspective from the regulatory and environmental camps.