welcome to the bonefish odyssey

BONEFISH
- a fishing odyssey - a film by Charles Rangeley-Wilson

an on-the-fly journey into the heart of a fishing obsession and the heart
of the Caribbean

‘BONEFISH - a fishing odyssey’ is a quest after the catch of a lifetime, a giant specimen of the
most spooky fish in the whole wide-blue ocean – the bonefish, ghost of the flats – a fish that
will mess with your eyesight, your nerves and your sanity!

Join acclaimed writer and presenter Charles Rangeley-Wilson on an island-hopping odyssey,

a journey that’ll take you by plane, mailboat, taxi and bicycle, in the colourful company of
the extraordinary, ordinary people of the Bahamas – all of whom have something to say
about a fish that is carved into the identity of the place, about where we might find our prize.

And the spectral, nomadic giant-bonefish will take our search down to the wire.

BONEFISH
- a fishing odyssey -

Out on DVD this September from www.thefishingmovie.com

priced £14.95

For more information or images please contact Charles Rangeley-Wilson

by email: charles @computemail.co.uk
or by phone 01485 512154
 BONEFISH
music by Joseph Spence, Frederick McQueen, The Pinder Family, and Tweedie Gibson
“They say fishing is about the places it takes you to. When Charles
Rangeley-Wilson takes you fly-fishing for trophy bonefish, with
rod in one hand, hand-held camera in the other, expect to be taken

BONEFISH
-a fishing odyssey-
further.“ - Neil Patterson

– ! fishing odyssey –
courtesy of Arhoolie Records and Nonesuch Records
a film by Charles Rangeley-Wilson

a film by Charles Rangeley-Wilson

“Bonefish“ is a quest after the catch of a lifetime ... a
giant specimen of the most spooky fish in the whole wide-
blue ocean – the bonefish, ghost of the flats – a fish that
will mess with your eyesight, your nerves and your sanity.

Join acclaimed writer and presenter Charles Rangeley-

Wilson on an island-hopping odyssey, a journey that’ll take
you by plane, mailboat, taxi and bicycle, in the colourful
company of the extraordinary, ordinary people of the Baha-
mas; a journey after a fish that is carved into the identity
of these wonderful islands.

And the spectral, nomadic bonefish will take your search

down to the wire.

www.thefishingmovie.com
produced by Charles Rangeley-Wilson
co-produced and filmed by Matthew Dyas

running time 54 mins approx - colour PAL - aspect

ratio 16:9 - dolby digital 2.0 stereo - language
English - subtitles English

E - EXEMPT FROM CLASSIFICATION. E “A gorgeous journey of joy, frustration and

addiction to sleek things with fins.“
WARNING - this film contains some strong language.
Parental guidance is recommended. - Nick Fisher

“A gorgeous journey of joy, frustration and addiction to sleek

things with fins.“
- Nick Fisher

“They say fishing is about the places it takes you to. When Charles
Rangeley-Wilson takes you fly-fishing for trophy bonefish, with rod
in one hand, hand-held camera in the other, expect to be taken
further.“
- Neil Patterson

“What is it about bonefish? Every fisherman asks themselves this: if I could give up
everything for one fish, in one place, what would it be, where would it be? And the
more I go, the more I’m sure that for me it would be a big bonefish in the
Caribbean.” The words I use to start this quest and words I expect most fishermen
will relate to no matter what they fish for, or where.

But this film is, I hope, about a lot more than just fishing. Fish are a product of their
environment and I can’t fall in love with one, without falling for the other: fishing
throws such a wide net over the landscape. And for me the pleasures of the quest
are inseparable from where that quest takes me and who I meet along the way. This
journey is as much about the people and the place, as the fish.
Filming with the BBC for series The Accidental Angler shoved me off in a direction I never expected to go
in. And in doing that it made me look a bit harder at the potential for using film to create stories about the
obsession of fishing - which is in the end all I try to write about.

The world of film is changing fast. Cameras are getting smaller. Editing software can be run on a laptop
and still pump out high end stuff. And this is reflected in how many grass-roots fishing-in-film productions
are popping up. It’s an exciting time of accelerated evolution. Things are changing for the viewer too. The
stranglehold of the big broadcasters is loosening and nowadays there’s any number of ways of getting film
in front of an audience. I was thinking about all this and about the possibility of making a really immersive
film, one where there are no second takes, no staged interviews and no faux jeopardy. I had a writing
commission for The Daily Telegraph Review magazine and decided to try to film the story of the journey
too, to try to write in film what I normally set down in words and photos.

I was joined on my trip by Matthew Dyas. He’s a freelance producer and has been involved with several
big BBC productions: “Tribe” amongst other things. Ironically – because we’d never met before Heathrow
Terminal 4, destined for Nassau, it turned out that Matt was one of the guys who pioneered the idea of the
Accidental Angler with the BBC in the first place.

I told Matt that if our kit could all fit into one bag (as opposed the fifteen we got used to checking in during
the making of The Accidental Angler) the one thing we had was loads of tape. “So no second takes,” he said
over our coffee, as we waited for final call. “No second takes,” I agreed.

We took two cameras – a Sony AE1 which is about the smallest “pro” camera you’ll find and an even
smaller Sony HDR-HC3 home-movie camera. Apart from being relatively inexpensive, I felt that these
small cameras would not intimidate, or shape reality in the same way the big pro cameras do. I felt that
what we lost in image quality would be made up for in realism. I bought a decent mic too.

I wanted the “plumbing” of this film to be on the outside – a lot of problems are solved in terms of
recording real-life as it unfolds if you just own up to the fact that someone is there following with a
camera. You can talk to them, they ask you questions and are in fact a big part of the story. In this film you
know who Matt is and that he is there.

We kept rolling as much as we could and indeed, there were no second takes. It all happened as you see it.

When we got home I learnt how to use Final Cut Pro and then edited the film myself. This was perhaps the
hardest thing of all. On the FCP course I was told you don’t so much finish a film as let it go: and how that
has proved to be the case. The problem – which is the same with writing – is finding the narrative from
within hours and hours of experience, finding the big things that drive the story, the little things that give
it depth and not disappearing off down a thousand apparently fascinating, but ultimately distracting cul-
de-sacs.

Charles Rangeley-Wilson