Early in his career, Boston Globe reporter David Abel was not convinced that traditionally print-based news outlets needed to start including visual media in their reporting. One could probably argue that he’s since changed course — he has made eight films, after all.
His most recent film, “In The Whale,” a feature-length documentary, will be screened by the Chautauqua Climate Change Initiative at 9 p.m. Sunday in Smith Wilkes Hall. The film, “the greatest fish story ever told,” tells the almost unbelievable story of Michael Packard, the last remaining commercial lobster diver on Cape Cod, following his family, life and career in the lobster diving world — and the time he was swallowed by a whale.
“It’s a much deeper story than you might think,” Abel said. “It’s ultimately a love story.”
The 81-minute film focuses just as much on the aftermath of Packard’s perhaps Biblical encounter as it does the 30 seconds he spent in the pitch-black mouth of a humpback whale. Abel said the title actually has a double meaning, referring to both Packard’s physical experience being “in the whale,” as well as “the whale of depression” that followed the media frenzy surrounding Packard’s experience.
“It’s a story about a fisherman’s love for the sea, a father’s love for his kids, and a son’s love for his mother,” Abel said. “It’s ultimately that love that gets him through the harrowing moments inside the whale and … (through) the whale of depression.”
While completing his Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University in 2013, Abel was working on a film about the first little person to run the Boston Marathon. He was filming at the finish line when the terrorist attack that rocked the Massachusetts capital unfolded, and much of the early footage of the attack was from Abel’s camera.
His experience creating that film, ultimately telling the story of the runner leading up to the marathon and the aftermath of the attacks, made him fall in love with filmmaking, he said.
“It was just a wholly different way of telling a story that … felt visceral, immersive, and captured people’s attention in ways that aren’t always easy to do in print,” Abel said. “I got hooked and I kept doing it, and now I’ve made eight films.”
Following the screening of “In The Whale” Sunday night, audiences will have the opportunity to participate in a talk-back with Abel — and if they enjoy the film, they can head back to Smith Wilkes Hall on Thursday for a screening of one of Abel’s other films, “Inundation District.”
Both films tell stories that center New England, and Abel said that even though not every one of his films is about the region, much of his practice has stemmed out of his experiences in Boston and its surrounding areas.
