Fighting Fish

"A tremendous achievement in storytelling, and it has left an indelible mark on me. Characters come first, allowing for a very human story to unfold almost effortlessly. The film reminds me of "You Can Count On Me," another excellent film dealing with siblings at opposite ends of the personality spectrum."
--Josh Mandel, head programmer of Slamdance

SYNOPSIS
"Fighting Fish" is a drama about a brother and sister in their early twenties who have to overcome their tempestuous past in order to have a chance at real happiness.
Putting his dreams of traveling on hold, 21-year-old David still lives at home, taking care of his little brother and sister. When his wild and beautiful sister Alice returns after a long absence, their complicated past comes back to haunt them. As David falls in love with the new girl in town, Alice is driven to desperate measures to keep her brother close, and her world intact.

PRODUCTION
"Fighting Fish" is the first feature coming from producer Bertha Pan's recently launched Slew Pictures. It is Annette Apitz's feature-film directorial debut. The film was shot with a Red camera in upstate New York.
The talented cast includes Val Emmich ("Ugly Betty"), Anna Moore ("The Life Before her Eyes"), Halley Feiffer ("The Messenger," "Gentlemen Broncos") and Haviland Morris ("Adam"). Three of Val Emmich's songs are on the film's soundtrack. Other soundtrack artists who supported this project include Elf Power, Imperial Teen, Chris Trapper, This Car Up, and Mark McAdam.

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
The script for Fighting Fish grew out of a script I was writing about a man and a woman who shouldn’t be together. At the same time I was exploring stories about families, and was becoming more and more aware of how greatly our upbringing can influence our behavior for the rest of our lives. These two interests merged and became the script for Fighting Fish.
Fighting Fish explores some very troubling behavior. But to me, more than anything, the film is a story about family—in this case a very broken one. The behavior that we see is a symptom of a fractured family. The film shows us what happens when there is nothing left to hold onto in your world, and when your only chance of emotional survival is to create a substitute family.
One of my main challenges when making a film which contains a taboo element was not to have the viewer walk out of the theater feeling in any way soiled. I wanted the viewer to leave the theater with a bittersweet smile on their face. So we made a film that is not just about a dark subject, but that is also about love, that’s a romance, a coming of age tale, and a story about forgiveness. As a viewer you are torn—can you root for the characters caught in this disturbing relationship? You shouldn’t, of course—but you almost want to. Which, of course, creates an unease of its own.
This is where the idea of empathy comes into play. We understand how these characters come to behave the way they do, we feel their pain, and we see what motivates them. I hope Fighting Fish gives everyone who sees the film a new perspective on previously held assumptions, because life is messy and things are never black and white. My hope is that the viewer will leave the theater stronger, and in a way liberated, having found compassion for these characters as they struggle to attain their freedom.