Teach a Man to Fish

When a recruiter for a commercial fishing company tries to exploit a small time fisherman, he gains perspective on his own life and his idea of success.

  • David Franciscus
    Director
  • David Franciscus
    Writer
  • Marlie Struwig
    Writer
  • David Franciscus
    Producer
  • Marlie Struwig
    Producer
  • Benedikt Sebastian
    Key Cast
  • Royston Stoffels
    Key Cast
  • Chris Aupiais
    Cinematography
  • David Pienaar
    Cinematography
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    6 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    June 18, 2017
  • Production Budget:
    2,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    South Africa
  • Country of Filming:
    South Africa
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital, RED, ALEXA
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.39
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • EFF BRICS
    Moscow
    Russian Federation
    December 14, 2017
    Russian Premier
    TBD
Director Biography - David Franciscus

David is an entrepreneur and TV commercial director, focussing on his career as a writer-director of profitable feature films. David is currently the managing director of Protagonist Films, a production company that produces content for a range of mediums.

From a young age, David was fascinated with a range of interests, spanning across fine art, graphic design, writing, photography, technology and music. David found filmmaking to be the perfect mix of the art forms and interests he loves.

During his first year at university, David gained invaluable experience in the South African film industry, mainly working on local and international TV commercials.

For as long as he can remember, David has been in love with cinema, growing up with the films of Spielberg, Scorsese, Coppola, Kubrick, Fincher, Tarantino and P. T Anderson, to name a few. These masters inspired David's approach to storytelling, and his focus on thought-provoking, character-centric narratives that seek to entertain and inspire audiences.

David is a passionate, driven and forward-thinking individual that believes all media creators have the ability and responsibility to inform and entertain, as well as to bring about positive societal change.

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Director Statement

"Teach a Man to Fish" was inspired by the famous anecdotal story of the "Businessman and the Fisherman", but it's a fictional representation of the reality for fishermen in South Africa and around the globe. Some of the main themes are capitalism and greed contrasted against happiness and freedom.

In Cape Town - South Africa, the issue of the distribution of fishing quotas is a contentious subject. Fishermen have been living off of the ocean for many generations, and it's the only way of life many of them know. They've been limited in the amount of fish they're able to catch each day, while big businesses are allocated much larger fishing quotas.

Fueled by greed and the ceaseless pursuit of wider profit margins, the incumbent fishing corporations have found a loophole to amass more quotas by buying out smaller fishing operations.

As a result, the desperate, local fisherman is exploited and becomes a slave to the capitalist agenda imposed on him before he has time to assess the situation.

"Teach a Man to Fish" is the tale of a fisherman standing up for his way of life, and simultaneously inspiring a representative of a fishing conglomerate to reassess his own idea of success and happiness.