For those that have yet to see Marblehead historian Dan Dixey’s lobstering documentary “Lobster Fishing in Marblehead,” or those hoping to see it for a second time, fret not. The wildly popular film, which sold out in mere hours before its premiere, is set to return to the Warwick Theatre for more showings.
The documentary, shot over a span of roughly a year, focuses on the makeup and history of Marblehead’s lobstering industry and its workers. Dixey said that the film will be making it’s way back to the Warwick around the holidays.
The documentary premiered at a private event for the lobstermen featured in the film this past August at the Marblehead Museum. A few more showings were scheduled afterward, all of which sold out almost immediately.
The film became so popular in town that Dixey partnered with the Warwick to bring the documentary to the big screen for two showtimes in September. Both sold out within hours.
“The response has been crazy,” Dixey said. “Some people saw it and people that saw it want to see it again or they’re going to tell people about it so word spreads. It’s been pretty popular, which is amazing.”
Dixey stumbled upon the subject of his documentary in Aug. 2021. He had always had an interest in video editing, but a light went off after a trip down to the harbor one morning. While scouting the harbor to capture some video with his GoPro, Dixey ran into Susan Michaud, who was bringing her lobster traps in for the year. He began talking with Michaud about her involvement in the industry, and became curious.
“I said ‘It would be nice to get the stories from more of the people,’ and to be honest, I had no idea how many people were still doing it out of Marblehead,” Dixey said.
Dixey put out messages on social media while looking to interview lobstermen in town and received what he called an “overwhelming” amount of responses. From summer 2021 to summer 2022, Dixey said he was down at the docks nearly every day, filming for several hours. He completed the majority of his filming just before fall 2022 and finalized the film this past spring.
Dixey interviewed dozens of lobstermen, with over thirty featured in the documentary. The filmmaker collected a colossal 750 gigabytes of footage, an archive he admitted he wasn’t even sure what to do with initially.
The final result? A two hour film that takes viewers into the lives of Marblehead lobsterman, shot in 5k.
“I didn’t have an outline, I didn’t have a layout, I didn’t really have a plan. I just tried to gather as much material just to see if people are going to want to see it as a whole story together,” Dixey said. “It kind of took off from there and here we are with it being shown at the Warwick Theatre.”
2023 has been good for Dixey. An author of three books on Marblehead history, not only has he seen his documentary become a Marblehead cult classic, he was also named the Rey Moulton Person of the year by the Marblehead Chamber of Commerce in September.
“The whole thing, it was right around the time we were scheduling the shows when I got the call about the person of the year, so it was a bit overwhelming there for a couple of weeks,” Dixey said. “It was a pretty exciting year for me.”
When asked if he is already beginning to plan his next project, Dixey said he is interested in creating another documentary. However, the filmmaker is holding off until at least winter to take a break and enjoy the rave reviews his latest work has and continues to receive from the community.