Jed Riffe Films

Smokin’ Fish

Cory Mann is a quirky Tlingit Businessman hustling to make a dollar in Juneau Alaska. He gets hungry for smoked salmon, nostalgic for his childhood and decides to spend a summer smoking fish at this family’s traditional fish camp. The unusual story of his life and the untold history of his people interweave with the process of preparing traditional food as he struggles to pay his bills, keep the IRS off his back, and keep his business afloat. By turns Tragic, bizarre, or just plain ridiculous, Smokin’ Fish tells the story of one man’s attempt to navigate the messy zone of collision between the modern world and an ancient culture.

“For a while, I didn’t really like it. I didn’t want to be Indian. I felt like I was being punished for something I didn’t do. All I could think of was I just want to be away from it.”

Cory Mann

“Smokin’ Fish is more than preparing traditional smoked salmon,” explains Luke Griswold-Tergis, the film’s producer, co-director and writer. “We see traditional food as a connection with history and with the land, as well as a pillar that supports living Indigenous culture.”

Release date: 2011 Director: Luke Griswold-Tergis Producer: Luke Griswold-Tergis Executive Producer: Jed Riffe

Festival Winner 2014 University of British Columbia Ethnographic Film Festival