DIRECTORS' NOTE
En la Orilla (At the Edge) was born from a Duke travel course led by Duke Professor (and co-director of this film) Xavier Basurto that I attended to learn about community-based marine conservation in the Gulf of California. Xavier had already spent many years of his life in the Gulf of California, and passed on his passion for the place and its people to all of his students. We traveled all through the Gulf and saw spectacular things: pods of dolphins 1000-strong, massive humpback whales, flocks of brown- and blue-footed boobies diving into the water after gigantic schools of sardines, hundreds of mobula mantas that leap from the water, colonies of curious sea lions that swim right up to you as if to tell you a secret, and the list goes on. But what struck me the most about the Gulf was the people; such hard-working, lovely, open, welcoming, and light hearted people who have a deep sense place. It was during this trip that we first met Gaspar and he took us out fishing. We were charmed by his sense of humor and his beautiful singing as he took us from one fishing spot to another.
As with most of the world’s oceans, the living resources of the Gulf of California are dwindling rapidly due to many factors including pollution, coastal development, and climate change. Approximately 85% of marine species are either being fished at the maximum sustainable rate or are currently being overfished, and the size and species diversity of fish caught in the region have steeply declined over the last century. This story of declining fish stocks is one common to all the world’s oceans, and one that we have all heard many times. Xavier and I wanted to show the more personal side of this story, to share with others the beauty of fishing, and how the changing oceans are impacting people on a day-to-day basis. Having met Gaspar and his wonderful family, we decided to return to Agua Verde to try our hand at making a short film.
We flew back to Baja seven months later. Since this was our first foray into documentary filmmaking, we had essentially no clue how to start – we just showed up with a camera and pressed record. We spent many hours out at sea, hot days and frigid nights, Xavier taking over filming when I got too seasick. Since we didn’t have any particular narrative in mind, we felt very lucky that the story of Eusebio’s shoes played out (and had a happy resolution) while we were there. We tried to capture the beauty and pace of life in Agua Verde, and show not only the frustration of slow fishing, but the pride and satisfaction a fisher feels when he makes a good catch.
Liza Hoos & Xavier Basurto
As with most of the world’s oceans, the living resources of the Gulf of California are dwindling rapidly due to many factors including pollution, coastal development, and climate change. Approximately 85% of marine species are either being fished at the maximum sustainable rate or are currently being overfished, and the size and species diversity of fish caught in the region have steeply declined over the last century. This story of declining fish stocks is one common to all the world’s oceans, and one that we have all heard many times. Xavier and I wanted to show the more personal side of this story, to share with others the beauty of fishing, and how the changing oceans are impacting people on a day-to-day basis. Having met Gaspar and his wonderful family, we decided to return to Agua Verde to try our hand at making a short film.
We flew back to Baja seven months later. Since this was our first foray into documentary filmmaking, we had essentially no clue how to start – we just showed up with a camera and pressed record. We spent many hours out at sea, hot days and frigid nights, Xavier taking over filming when I got too seasick. Since we didn’t have any particular narrative in mind, we felt very lucky that the story of Eusebio’s shoes played out (and had a happy resolution) while we were there. We tried to capture the beauty and pace of life in Agua Verde, and show not only the frustration of slow fishing, but the pride and satisfaction a fisher feels when he makes a good catch.
Liza Hoos & Xavier Basurto
