How to Save a Fish from Drowning

The Scottish Documentary Institute commissioned six new filmmakers to create films with a theme of “white,” and this short from Kelly Neal is one of the unexpected results. In a rural American town called Columbus, the average age of the population is 73. Three “very poor fisherman”—Wiley, Shanny & Springy—live in a place so small “you blink your eyes and you go by and you’ll miss it.” The stark, cold countryside is contrasted with the warmth of the fishermen, who use their humor and comradeship to bolster spirits and straighten their spines against inevitable “progress.” —EL