At Sea
2007 experimental film by Peter Hutton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
At Sea is a 2007 American experimental documentary film directed by Peter Hutton. Shot on 16 mm film over the course of three years, it follows the "birth, life and death"[1] of a container ship, from its construction in a South Korean dockyard to its travels on the Atlantic Ocean and eventual beaching in Bangladesh, where ship breakers labor for scrap.[2][3]
| At Sea | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Peter Hutton |
Release date |
|
Running time | 60 minutes |
| Country | United States |
At Sea was voted the best avant-garde film of the past decade in a 2011 Film Comment poll.[4]
Production
Filmmaker and former merchant seaman Peter Hutton conceived At Sea after completing the 2004 short film Skagafjördur, which was shot in Iceland.[4][5] In 2004, Hutton visited Chittagong, Bangladesh, with the idea of making a film about ship breaking, but he was only able to shoot for "a couple of hours".[5] The following summer, Hutton traveled to Geoje, South Korea, where he gathered footage at the Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) shipyard; and in 2006, Hutton filmed the ship's voyage on the Atlantic Ocean.[5] During this time, Hutton was considering titling the film How the World Works.[5]