SLATE NORTH and EASY THERE TIGER
KISS THE WATER
A film by Eric Steel
Official Selection Tribeca Film Festival 2013 Offcial Selection Edinburgh International Film Festival 2013 Official Selection Woods Hole Film Festival 2013 Official Selection Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival 2013 Official Selection Vancouver International Film Festival 2013
Run Time: 80 mins. Aspect ratio: 16.9
Brief synopsis:
Megan Boyd's entire world -- her life, livelihood, longing and love -- was wrapped up in her mysterious fishing flies -- bits of exotic feather, fur and fancy tinsel spun around a tiny metal hook. In every strand, in every fibre there was a story, a fairy tale, a truth -- waiting to be unraveled.
Synopsis:
In a cottage in northern Scotland, Megan Boyd twirled bits of feather, fur, silver and gold into elaborate fishing flies -- at once miniature works of art and absolutely lethal. Wherever men and women cast their lines for the mighty Atlantic salmon, her name is whispered in mythic reverence, and stories about her surface and swirl like fairy tales. With breathtaking cinematography and expressive, hand painted animation, KISS THE WATER adheres to and escapes from traditional documentary form, spinning the facts and fictions of one woman life into a stunning film about craft, devotion, love, and its illusions.
Director’s Statement
For as long as I can remember, I have been reading the obituaries in The New York Times first thing every morning. It sounds like a morbid fascination, but I don’t read them to see who has died, but to let my mind wander into the lives of others, perhaps searching for clues or clarity or examples of how to find and follow my own path. Ten years ago – long before I had made THE BRIDGE or imagined that I would actually be a filmmaker – I found the obituary of Megan Boyd, a woman who made fantastic fishing flies from a tiny cottage along the remote northern coast of Scotland. I am not a fisherman, had never been to Scotland, and don’t eat salmon – so there was no immediate reason I should have found her story all that interesting.
And yet I cut it out, and pinned it to the wall near my desk.
And then I made THE BRIDGE – and I learned some important things about my craft and about people. What I discovered, watching the Golden Gate Bridge for most of an entire year – was that if I stared at something long enough, I began to get glimpses of things others could not or would not notice. And I came to understand just how significant the difference was between the image one presents to the world, on the surface – and what one might be feeling and living inside, beneath the surface.
So when I returned to the story of Megan Boyd, I began to wonder if her life had been the gilded fairy tale her obituary suggested – or if I was missing something, between the lines, under the surface. For more than a decade I had been reading the words over and over – until I could recite them by heart:
Megan Boyd, whose fabled expertise at tying enchantingly delicate fishing flies put her work in museums and the hands of collectors around the world and prompted Queen Elizabeth II to award her the British Empire Medal, died Nov. 15 in Golspie, Scotland. She was 86.
From tiny strands of hair she made magic: the classic Scottish flies like the Jock Scott, Silver Doctor and Durham Ranger and the fly named after her, the Megan Boyd, a nifty blue and black number famous for attracting salmon at the height of summer, when the water is low, hot and dead.
With a very small, intrepid crew I began to stare at her life, letting myself wander in her footsteps. I collected all the stories about her from people who knew her – wonderful tales from great characters in their own right. And I spent long days peering into her window and out through her window -- of her now abandoned and collapsing cottage. We marched up alongside the rivers and glens of the spectacular Scottish countryside and looked out over the grey expanse of the North Sea. And I tracked down the last few people in the world willing to try their hand at making the complex, miniature fishing flies that Megan had created – whispering her patterns (as if they were magic spells) and twirling bits of feathers (many from birds that are largely extinct or endangered) and gold and silver tinsel around tiny metal hooks (because nowadays most fishing flies are made with plastic and superglue!). And I listened to fly fisherman give me their theories on why salmon favored Megan’s flies over all others – what secret magic hers might have contained – because salmon, unlike trout, don’t need to eat in the rivers, they don’t need to go after bait. They come back to the river for just one thing – to spawn, for love. Salmon fishing is all about the seduction.
A part of me wanted to believe that Megan Boyd was the content woman everyone made her out to be – all alone in her little cottage, happily spinning away like mad, never lonely. Until one of her students told me that she once said to him: “You make the flies to catch the fisherman, not the fish.” And I began to see finally, or perhaps just to imagine, that she must have had longings of her own – a desire to be spun around and danced with and romanced, the way the fishermen used her flies to seduce the fish.
KISS THE WATER was created from this very unorthodox marriage of facts, fictions, and fairy tale – in almost exactly the same manner in which Megan Boyd twirled bit of feather, fur and fine threads into her miniature works of art. There is a formal, delicate and original patterning to the way the film (edited by Sabine Krayenbühl) weaves together interviews, the craft of fly tying, and landscapes (filmed by Ole Birkeland) with the expressive, hand-painted animation of Em Cooper and the classical music composed by Paul Cantelon. The animations are not illustration or reenactment – they are like the reconstruction of her dream life, as I imagined them. Their roots are in the words people told me, the images I filmed, but their flight path is wholly of my imagination.
At some point, the distinctions between facts and fictions, riddles and answers become immaterial.
About the Crew:
ERIC STEEL – Director/Producer
Eric Steel began his career as a creative executive at Walt Disney Pictures after graduating from Yale University in 1985. Later he worked as a Vice President at Cinecom, at the time the leading art film distributor. Shifting gears, he took a position as an Editor at Simon & Schuster and then as a Senior Editor at HarperCollins, where he published many noted and award winning books of fiction and non-fiction.
In 1995, he became Senior Vice President of Scott Rudin Productions. Along with the acquisition and development of many of the company’s most prominent feature projects, he was the Executive Producer of ANGELA’S ASHES, and Co- Producer of BRINGING OUT THE DEAD and SHAFT.
In 2003, Eric Steel formed his own company, Easy There Tiger.
THE BRIDGE, Eric Steel’s directorial and documentary debut, premiered at the Tribeca International Film Festival in 2005 and was released theatrically across the United States and around the world in 2006. Stephen Holden, in The New York Times, wrote THE BRIDGE is “one of the most moving and brutally honest films about suicide ever made.” MTV selected THE BRIDGE as the best documentary of the year.
Eric Steel optioned, developed and produced (with Amy Robinson and Laurence Mark) JULIE & JULIA – directed by Nora Ephron and starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. The film was a Golden Globe nominee for Best Picture (Comedy or Musical).
KISS THE WATER had its world premier at the Tribeca International Film Festival in April 2013.
Eric Steel’s other credits include: ANGELA’S ASHES (1999) as Executive Producer and as Co: Producer: SHAFT (2000) and BRINGING OUT THE DEAD (1999).
ANDREA CALDERWOOD – Executive Producer
Andrea began her career as a freelance production manager in Scotland, producing documentaries, short dramas and music videos with independent company Crash Films, before being appointed Head of Drama at BBC Scotland. She then joined Pathe Pictures as their Head of Production, executive producing eight feature films including AN IDEAL HUSBAND, RATCATCHER and THE CLAIM.
Through her own production company, Slate Films, Andrea's producer credits include Mike Figgis' experimental digital film HOTEL; Shane Meadows' ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE MIDLANDS; Kevin Macdonald's THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND (winner of 3 BAFTAs and the Oscar for Forest Whitaker); HBO's acclaimed GENERATION KILL: I AM SLAVE, directed by Gabriel Range and written by Jeremy Brock; executive producer on two series¹ of David Kane's THE FIELD OF BLOOD for the BBC; and Eric Steel¹s fly fishing documentary, KISS THE WATER.
Andrea has recently completed producing HALF OF A YELLOW SUN, based on the Orange prize winning novel by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie. Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton, Joseph Mawle and Anika Noni Rose, the film has been written and directed by Nigerian novelist and playwright Biyi Bandele. Andrea is currently producing A LITTLE CHAOS, directed by Alan Rickman and starring Kate Winslet and Matthias Schoenaerts.
Slate Films joined forces with Potboiler Productions in 2009.
KATE SWAN – producer
Kate started her career as a film festival organiser, documentary researcher, and producer of short drama films, co-founding Crash Films with Andrea Calderwood and Douglas Mackinnon in 1988.
Kate produced the BFI/Channel 4 feature films PLAY ME SOMETHING, written by John Berger, directed by Timothy Neat and starring Tilda Swinton. She also produced BLUE BLACK PERMANENT, written and directed by Margaret Tait, starring Gerda Stevenson, Celia Imrie, James Fleet and Jack Shepherd (co- produced with Barbara Grigor).
As Director of the Scottish Film Production Fund, Kate founded the Tartan Shorts film scheme, whose first production, Peter Capaldi’s FRANZ KAFKA’S IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE won an Academy Award for Best Short Film. At the Fund, she established a development slate that included the feature films SHALLOW GRAVE, CARLA’S SONG and SMALL FACES, and was Executive Producer of ACOUSTIC ROUTES, Jan Leman’s documentary film about legendary guitarist Bert Jansch.
For BBC Television Drama, Kate produced Paul Murton’s THE BLUE BOY, starring Emma Thompson and Adrian Dunbar, and SPLIT SECOND, starring Clive Owen and Helen McCrory, written by James Mavor and directed by David Blair. As a Development Producer at BBC Scotland Drama, Kate worked with a diverse range of talent, including Ashley Pharoah and Andrew Kotting.
She also produced BACKPACKER ORPHEUS written and directed by Tinge Krishnan, a play devised from the experiences of the Asian Tsunami which starred Enzo Cilenti.
Kate is a graduate of the National Film and Television School and The University of Edinburgh, and a former member of the BFI Production Board.
EM COOPER - Animator
Em Cooper is a British director and animator specializing in combining oil painted animation with live-action film. She is particularly interested in experimenting with film form and use of subjective perspectives within her work. She has found the technique of combining paint with film particularly useful for expressing inner experiences, emotional realities or memories within films. Recently she has also found this to be useful within documentary, as well as fiction film and experimental pieces.
She is particularly interested in experimenting with film form and use of subjective perspectives within her work. She has found the technique of combining paint with film particularly useful for expressing inner experiences, emotional realities or memories within films. Recently she has also found this to be useful within documentary, as well as fiction film and experimental pieces.
Em’s films have been screened internationally, including at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Her work has also shown at Turner Contemporary, Margate, and been discussed at various psychoanalytic conferences including the European Psychoanalytic Film Festival in London and the International Ferenczi Conference in Budapest.
Em graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2010 and her film Confusion of Tongues was shortlisted for the 2012 British Animation Awards, Best Student Film. Prior to her MA, Em worked as an Editor and Associate Producer at Current TV, UK, after graduating with a BA in Fine Art from Sheffield Hallam University.
FINAL CREDITS
Easy There Tiger and Slate Films present…
In association with BBC Scotland and Creative Scotland
KISS THE WATER
Director - Eric Steel
Producer - Eric Steel & Kate Swan
Executive Producer - Andrea Calderwood
Editor - Sabine Krayenbühl
Director of Photography - Ole Bratt Birkeland
Director of Animation - Em Cooper
Music - Paul Cantelon
Sound Design - Margaret Crimmins & Greg Smith
Animation Producer - Sue Loughlin
Executive Producers for BBC - Ewan Angus & Charlotte Moore
Production Executive for Creative Scotland - Robbie Allen
Production Managers - Hazel Borthwick, Samantha Zarzosa
Camera Assistants - Andrew Hill, James Harrison, Jonathan Wright
Camera Trainee - Julian Schwanitz
Sound Recordists - Douglas Fairgreave Cameron Mercer Sam Nightingale
Animation Artists - Em Cooper Sharon Liu Veseslina Dashinova
Animation Studio - Film Club Productions
Assistant Editors - Grace B. Kline, Peter Bolte
Voice Over Artists - Gerda Stevenson, Richard Poe
Music Editor and Mixer - Dean Parker
Cello - Sara Sant’Ambrogio
Piano, Violins, Concertina - Paul Cantelon
Vocals - Angela McCluskey
Vocals Recorded and Produced by - Dan Sammartano
Re-recording Mixer - Iain Anderson
Sound Mixing Facility - Savalas, Glasgow
On Line Editor - David Leishman
Colorist - Ben Mullen
Titles - Jason Hillier
Online Facilities - Serious, Glasgow
Post Production Facilities - Post Factory, New York
Digital Cinema Production - Soho Digital Cinema, London
Archive Research - Colin Nusbaum
Production Legal Services - Natalie Usher, Lee & Thompson Jackie Eckhouse, Sloss Eckhouse . Law Co.
Financial Supervisor - Bill Godfrey
Finance Assistant - Anna Webster
Auditor - Steve Joberns, Shipleys
Insurance Services - Boyd Harvey, Media Insurance Brokers Charles Whelan
Camera Rental - Progressive Broadcast, Glasgow
Transcription Services - Adam Segaller
Fly Tying - Brian Burnett, Terry Griffiths, Colin Simpson, Royihan Simpson, Ronald Sutherland, Jimmy Younger
Fly Fishing Consultants - Stewart Graham, Scott Mackenzie, Colin Simpson Ronald Sutherland
Ghillies - Glenn Macdonald, Martin Grant
Appearing as themselves:
Hettie Cunningham Harry Davidson Stewart Graham Sheila Grant Angela MacBeath George MacBeath Edward MacKay Bill Main David Profumo Lilla Rowcliffe Valerie Sanders Aileen Simpson Alex Simpson Colin Simpson
Excerpt from "Megan Boyd, Eccentric Master of Fish Flies, Dies at 86" by Douglas Martin. From The New York Times, December 11, 2001 © 2001 The New York Times. All rights reserved. Used by permission and protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States. The printing, copying, redistribution, or retransmission of this Content without express written permission is prohibited
Prelude for Cello and Piano No. 4 in B flat minor composed by Paul Cantelon performed by Sara Sant'Ambrogio and Paul Cantelon from the album DREAMING on Sebastian Records recorded and mastered by Tom Lazarus Prelude for Piano and Cello No. 5 in B flat composed by Paul Cantelon performed by Sara Sant'Ambrogio and Paul Cantelon from the album DREAMING on Sebastian Records recorded and mastered by Tom Lazarus Machine Without Horses Performed by Colin Dewar Scottish Dance Band With kind permission of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society
No animals were harmed during the making of this film.
PRODUCTION NOTES
This film was made using the Sony SRW-9000 HDCAM-SR Camcorder and the GoPro Hero 3
The documentary sequences were filmed in Brora and Helsmdale, Sutherland
This film was edited on Final Cut
This film is not yet rated.
Total Run Time: 80 minutes.
Copyright 2013 Easy There Tiger, Inc.
KISS THE WATER -- Selected Press: from The Hollywood Reporter:
Eric Steel, director of "The Bridge," lends his idiosyncratic doc voice to the story of a fly- fishing legend.
A lyrical portrait that is equal parts journalism, speculation and tone poem, Eric Steel's Kiss the Water follows up his divisive The Bridge (about suicides at San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge) by attempting to understand an enigmatic woman who became a world-renowned maker of flies for salmon fishing. Quietly beautiful in ways that might win over viewers with no interest in fishing, it will seduce many at fests and, with the right attention, could be a small hit at the arthouse.
Full link: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/kiss- water-tribeca-review-450318 from Time Out London:
‘Kiss the Water’ was a magical film about Megan Boyd, a world-famous maker of salmon fishing flies (she supplied Prince Charles). The film is an exquisite achievement from US documentary maker Eric Steel…
Full Link: http://www.timeout.com/london/film/ten-things- we-learned-at-the-2013-edinburgh-film- festival?intcid=leader
from Screen Daily:
An elegant and fascinating delight, Kiss The Water is made with insight, intelligence and a painterly delight…
Full link: http://www.screendaily.com/reviews/the-latest/kiss- the-water/5057491.article?blocktitle=Latest- Reviews&contentID=592 from Eye for Film: devastatingly luminescent…
Full link at: http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/feature/2013-04- 25-interview-with-frederic-boyer-artistic-director-of-the- tribeca-film-festival-feature-story-by-anne-katrin-titze from Kamera: a documentary that takes one life of simplicity and creativity and turns it into something with a deep emotional resonance. No one knows why a salmon takes a fly, but in Eric Steel's gorgeous documentary, the 'why' suddenly becomes unimportant.
Full link: http://www.kamera.co.uk/article.php/1450
from Wonders in the Dark:
Documentary masterwork! Kiss the Water is an elegiac and poetic documentary that takes a potentially indifferent topic – salmon fly fishing -- and transforms it into the most beautifully wrought documentaries on the subject yet realized. Full link: http://wondersinthedark.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/the- ten-best-films-of-the-2013-tribeca-film-festival/#more- 28147
And a few quotes…
“Kiss the Water is like dreaming and eating dessert at the same time.” -- Jerry Seinfeld
“It’s always great to have different kinds of work in the festival from the UK, from Ireland, from Europe. It’s hard for me to think about just one or two of them. Although, I really love Eric Steel’s work, Kiss the Water. I think that’s a very special little movie.”
-- Geoffrey Gilmore, chief creative officer of Tribeca Enterprises