In the Straits of Messina, the Swordfish was fished for more than two thousand years, with the same way: “feluca”, the “luntri”, the “lanzatore”, the “avvistatore” and the “romatore”. In the last thirty years this fishing has suffered a profound transformation, announcing a melancholic extinction.
The cavalier and romantic competition between man and the king of the Mediterranean fish has been filmed in its various phases. The patient waiting, the tumult of the first sighting, the chase and the first harpooning, with all its sounds and voices registered live.
This documentary, awarded with the first prize at the Festival of Brussels in 1949, has become, today, an historical document of our extinct traditions.
Script: Marcella Rossellini
Music: Renzo Rossellini
- Direction: Francesco Alliata, Quintini di Napoli, Pietro Moncada
- Production: Panaria Film
