September 9, 2016 — It’s now been more than three years since David Wittkower, struck by the spiraling decay of the Gloucester groundfishing fleet, decided to make a film chronicling its decline from the robust fleet he remembered as a kid growing up in Rockport.
The making of Wittkower’s film “Dead in the Water,” as with nearly every film project ever devised, has been an arduous slog through an endless array of creative decisions and more earthly problems — chief among them how to raise enough money to create the film the Los Angeles-based director first envisioned.
Now, with the assistance of the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association and generous benefactors throughout Cape Ann, Wittkower is closing in on having enough capital to finish the film and assemble a working print, possibly by as early as Thanksgiving.
To do that, though, he still needs— what else? — more money.
“The fundraising by the Fishermen’s Wives Association has been an incredible benefit, affording me the chance to work on making the film 24/7 instead of having to run around trying to raise money,” Wittkower said. “The fundraising has been very, very important.”