Daryl Granger holds the framed ‘first ticket’ for his Netting the Waters documentary, which has been selected for several international film festivals.
By Chris Abbott
Netting the Waters, a local full-length feature documentary on commercial fishing on Lake Erie, from the perspective of Port Dover’s fishing fleet, will be setting sails for at least five international film festivals in 2025 – and more destinations announcements coming soon.
The one that gets everyone’s attention is the Cannes World Film Festival in France. Granger is quick to note that the World Festival is not the invitation-only Festival de Cannes in May which attracts flocks of Hollywood celebrities.
“There are three Cannes film festivals. This (Cannes World Film Festival) is another festival in Cannes, and there is another festival in Cannes that we also entered.”
Cannes World Film Festival does both online and in-show, gathering selections over several months. Winners go into another pool on the way to the September festival. It attracts films and documentaries worldwide.
There’s a chance Granger will be heading to the French Riviera in the fall.
It would be a phenomenal feat for a one-person, low budget production.
“A lot of documentaries, when you look at the credits, just the amount of people in them, the budgets they have… and you do it – you’re the only one – and you’ve pulled off this feature length documentary that can compare with the rest of them…”
His six-month project took more than 100 hours to edit and narrate, he said, and the whole experience making his first documentary was all worth it.
“It wasn’t a ‘job’, it was fun. That’s all it was. If you enjoy what you do, it’s not work. It’s total joy.
“People like how it looks, and people are entertained. There is ‘story’ in it. There is characters – two main characters. There’s my touch – the narration - and I’m in the doc, twice. I looked for a cinematic flair… I put everything I’ve got into it.
“When you see the documentary, your emotions are going to go up and down. That’s what most people tell me – they laugh, they cry, and they say ‘wow.’”
The first premiere at The Strand Theatre in Simcoe on Oct. 21 sold out in one day. Two more dates were added in November. Then more. And more.
“The showings at The Strand, they sell out,” said Granger. “The theatre’s full – there may be like five or six seats in the front row.”
It has shown in both Tillsonburg and Leamington – Southpoint Cinemas has signed on for more shows - and the first showing in London at Hyland Cinema is Jan. 20. He planned to make another major theatre announcement on Tuesday.
“It’s spreading,” Granger smiled, “and it just keeps going and going. I’m just enjoying it. Eventually it will be released to video-on-demand…”
Its overwhelming success was unexpected.
“I didn’t expect that, and I guess that’s one of the joys of doing something and not expecting it. It’s like ‘Wow, look at all this!’ I think word of mouth is a big thing and because of socials, that spreads.”
On Jan. 1, Granger announced on the RoseLe Studio Facebook page that Netting the Waters was competing for Best Feature Documentary at four international film festivals and Best Educational at one. It was submitted to 12 festivals in total, and he’s awaiting their responses.
On Jan. 5, Granger revealed Netting the Waters was an official selection for both the International Motion Picture Awards and Cannes World Film Festival. One week later, he learned it was a semifinalist at the Cannes World Film Festival, and it was an official selection for the IndieFest Film Awards.
“Even to get an official selection laurel, that’s a win.”
Looking ahead, Granger admits he ‘caught the bug.’ He’s in the permission stage right now for his next project.
“Things are looking very good,” Granger concluded. “Any ‘next project’ I do will take everything I learned from Netting the Waters and bump it up. But I am super happy with Netting the Waters, I wouldn’t change a thing in it.”
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