First-Time Filmmakers: "Fishing Without Nets" Director Cutter Hodierne

Most of the pop culture tropes about pirates (parrots; wooden legs; a colorful, idiomatic vernacular, e.g., ‘Shiver me timbres!’; the letter ‘X’ marking spots) come to us from movies and TV. But until the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise made Jack Sparrow a household name, pirates had been box office poison for decades. In 2009, however, life seemed to imitate art when, like black ships on the horizon, the West became aware of the piracy problem in the Indian Ocean.

For (at the time) 23-year-old Cutter Hodierne, these 21st-century buccaneers and their motives, lives, and stories, provided the inspiration for his 17-minute fictional short film, Fishing Without Nets; the incredible success of that film (see below) led to a feature, which is available today on Digital HD and VOD through VICE Films.

We caught up with the first-time feature filmmaker while he was in Washington, D.C., in the middle of a tour to promote the film.

The Creators Project: So is it really true you financed the short with money you made shooting backstage video for U2?

Cutter Hodierne: Yes, that is true. I shot backstage video on the 360 tour.

And how does one get that job?

Well, it was through a friend of mine that I made the initial connection, and then I think I got the job because I submitted these videos, but the videos were of me, doing the job, you know, working for U2, and just being terrible, like screwing up left and right. And, I guess they liked that, because I got the job.

What’s Bono like? Is it true he’s magic?

He’s cool.

So in a way, U2 sort of produced this movie. I like to imagine Bono handing the money to you in a sack with dollar signs on it.  Did you shoot in Somalia itself?

We actually were in Mombasa, Kenya, which is a big port city, and had the most resources for a production.

And you were only 23 at the time? 

Yeah, I actually spent my birthday throwing up over the side of a boat.

When you say “port city in East Africa,” I can’t help thinking that might be a little risky.

Yeah, I mean, it was hairy sometimes. We were arrested, and accused of trespassing.

What did you shoot with?

We had a 7D, and we were lucky, too, because we had a Steadicam—well, it was the equivalent for our camera—and that added some production values, but the setting itself provided a lot of the production values. We were always terrified that something was going to break, though, because you’re in Mombasa. It’s not the easiest place to be if something goes wrong with the camera, or breaks.

And how did you cut?

Final Cut 7. That’s what we cut the feature with, too.

So you’re over in Africa, making a film about Somali pirates, and you are working with actual Somali pirates [amongst others]. What was that like?

Yeah, we were. It was great, and because we were writing the film as we were going, it was just priceless, to be able to get these stories from the actual guys, and listen to their stories, not only for the movie, but it was just fascinating because on the news in the West you see a lot of coverage but the guys themselves are kind of dehumanized, whereas they’re just like anyone else, just forced into bad situations, into choices, because of where they live.

Were you expecting all of the success?

Not at all. No way. I mean, we applied to Sundance, because that’s what you do if you’re an indie filmmaker, but we more applied out of protocol. Of course, you hope, but…

And then it was the day before Thanksgiving, and I got a call saying we’d been accepted, and I was just shocked. I thought it was one of my friends messing with me, to be honest. I was like, “How do I know you are who you say are? Prove it!”

Perfectly natural reaction. So you developed the feature at Sundance [the short also won the Grand Jury Prize in 2012] and then you go back to shoot the feature. And it’s your first time directing a feature film. What was that like? Were you intimidated?

No, not really. I’ve always been kind of a natural leader, and I don’t think you can be [intimidated]. I’d also had a lot of experience before, not only with the short, but also from making videos when I was a teenager, and then being on tour, so I wasn’t freaking out that much. A big part of that was also that I had really great people around me, like [producing partner] John Hibey, and they were invaluable because I was able to focus on the filmmaking as much as I could.

But it still must have been crazy?

Oh yeah. I mean, there were power outages all the time and sometimes we were working with this giant crew. Because guys would show up for work, and they’d have their cousins with them, or their brothers-in-law, some days we had a cast and crew of maybe 50 or 60 people. And from all over world: we had Americans, we had Kenyans, Spaniards, it was like the U.N. of filmmaking. It was really a barely organized chaos, and so my job, a lot of the time, was just to lead and kind of get out of the way.

What were some of your influences, cinematically? And have you seen Captain Phillips [Tom Hanks’ 2013 film about Somali pirates]?

I think Herzog, and that kind of adventure filmmaking, that was definitely a consideration. In order to make this movie, I kind of just had to let go, because if I’d tried to control everything, I would have gone crazy. I had to trust the people around me, and trust the story, and where we were, and have a faith, or hope, that we would get something good. And I haven’t seen

Captain Phillips

. Yet.

You’re a first time filmmaker, not even 30, and you have this film that’s everywhere, and people are going crazy for it. That’s pretty much every filmmaker’s dream. You must feel kind of dazed?

I do. And especially because I’m traveling around the world with the film, it just doesn’t stop. Right now, I’m in Washington, D.C., which is nice because that’s my hometown, but this has been a surreal experience, to say the least. Great, but a little surreal. I’m just really grateful I got to tell this story, and that people are responding to it.

For more inspiring stories of fearless filmmaking, watch the first episode of The Creators Project's Art World series, A New Wave of Iraqi Cinema:

Fishing Without Nets, from VICE Films, is available today

on Digital HD and VOD

.

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