Vice has made a deal so people can watch “Fishing Without Nets,” its award-winning movie about Somali pirates, the company said Thursday. Fox Home Entertainment will release a digital copy of the movie for purchase the same day it opens in a few theaters and via video-on-demand services.
Director Cutter Hodierne won the Jury Award for Best Director at the Sundance Film Festival, where the short that inspired the feature first screened. He shot both the short and the movie in East Africa, working with Kenyan actors of Somali descent.
It chronicles one Somali who takes part in a piracy mission, but then tries to extricate himself from this group.
The cast was a big hit at Sundance, dancing at the after party and exhibiting genuine exuberance rare at most Hollywood parties. It was the first trip to the United States for many of them.
Vice didn’t make a deal at first, holding out for a multi-platform release that would ensure the movie could reach its young, digital-savvy audience. Fox and Vice will work together on the digital release while Alamo Drafthouse will handle movie theaters in some markets. Fans will also be able to schedule screenings using TUGG.
Vice’s Eddy Moretti and Shane Smith executive produced the movie with Think Media Studios’ Joe LoConti, Brian Glazen and Stephanie Pinola. WME Global helped arrange financing and made the deal on Vice’s behalf.