The Herring Girls
A tale of madness, merfolk and magic
Written and directed by Rekha Garton
Annag is alone, lost, fighting for her sanity. Awake and dreaming, she is drawn to the shoreline, yearning for the deep coastal waters. By day she feels the eyes of The Herring Girls on her as she pulls and tears at the fish alongside them, trying to hide her slipping grasp of reality. Do they know something she doesn't?
Annag is losing herself to powers bigger than anyone would know.
It is the story of a young girl abandoned, during a fishing season, to grow up on the desolate Norfolk coast. The Herring Girls, a group of women who travelled and worked alongside fishermen following the herring from Scotland to Norfolk, witness her spiritual and supernatural awakening.
Era | Late 18th Century
Location | Norfolk
Genre | Folk Horror Short Film
This tale challenges the fragility of female friendships, women's mental health and supporting women through a time where there is a lot of toxic positivity going on, you do not HAVE to have a large friendship group to be happy, you are just as valuable as a lone wolf, it's okay to spend more time finding your tribe, if you even want one. Celebrate your differences and stand strong in your sense of self.
The Herring Girls was filmed entirely in Norwich, Norfolk UK with a 90% Norfolk-based film crew and well over half of that crew and cast being women. Over the course of 6 days including an underwater day.
‘I wrote The Herring Girls through lockdown, I was listening to an obscure album (the composer of said album was the first person I ever reached out too about The Herring Girls and was lucky enough that he was more than happy to be involved.) I was transported to another world. It started with fragments of imagery, film pieces like the opening shots, as a photographer I thought maybe a new photography project but this was bigger. Much bigger. Slowly they formed into something linear, I started writing and just couldn’t stop, it just evolved and carried on evolving right up until we were shooting. It was like seeing years of my photography come to life. My life has been pretty isolated, by choice, I prefer the quiet and being submerged in water, nature and found my unnatural talent of finding bones and dead things unsettles some… My friendships with women, especially when I was younger were really hard, it’s much better now I’m older but I wanted to create something that included my love of folk horror, mermaids, witches, magic and all things ‘dark’ but that highlighted the fragility of female friendships, especially if it’s something you’ve craved for so long, it’s a tale I believe every woman has lived through in some manner.’ - Rekha | Writer/Director
Poster Design by Gary Compton
Stills and BTS
by Oscar May
