V.I.S.S.E.N

More than a million people in the Netherlands play soccer, but over a million and a half Dutchmen go fishing once or several times a year. Angling may be the most remarkable popular sport in the world. A fanatical fisherman: ‘I’m just completely “carped”.’ This documentary made by brothers and film makers Pieter-Rim and Maarten de Kroon delves into the world of fishing in the Netherlands. Is fishing a sport, a meditative escape, or is it like hunting, an inescapable primeval instinct? What happens to you when you’re angling, when you catch a fish, or when you don’t catch any? And: What’s it like for the fish to have that hook in its mouth? A cinematographic search for the protofisherman in us. Above and under water, on the IJ river, by the coast, on the North Sea, in the city, the polder and on and by the lakes and rivers. In the process, the film paints a surprising portrait of the parallel world of fishermen and fish in the Netherlands. (Nederlands Film Festival)