Bear Behind You

When headstrong Merrin, trapped in the rhythms of her family's mussel-picking trade, stumbles upon a mysterious hagstone, she unwittingly sets off a chain of events that challenges her family ties, and the unseen forces shaping their mundane lives.

Boredom makes people do a lot of strange things like try to save the world. Made for the film festival Straight8 2020, City Fishing charts the attempts of two friends to find a small way to help their community.

In wartime Britain, a Lord permitted unused land on Cornwall’s Rame Peninsula to be built on. Tiny chalets appeared, each as individual as its owner, and the community of Freathy came to life. In 2016, with Cornwall’s tourism industry booming, the Lord’s estate announced that they own everything the residents have built over generations. The community were offered the chance to buy their own homes at an extortionate price – most were unable to pay. A ticking time bomb of eviction begins.