Revolt of the Fishermen

The Revolt of the Fishermen (Russian Восстание рыбаков, Wosstanije rybakow) is a feature film and early sound film based on the novel Revolt of the Fishermen of Santa Barbara by Anna Seghers, which was made between 1931 and 1934 on behalf of the German-Russian Mezhrabpomfilm company in the Soviet Union. The original intention was to produce a German and a Russian version directed against the growing Nazi movement. Due to considerable organizational deficits and differences between the film company and the director, only the Russian version could be completed. This was the feature film debut of German director Erwin Piscator.

The film deals with a strike among the workers of the Bredel shipping company. The strike is triggered by an accident during fish processing, which the workers attribute to the excessive pace of work on the shipping company's fishing fleet. After the death of a strike leader, the strike escalated and spread from deep-sea fishermen to independent coastal fishermen in the region. The film was shot in the Ukraine, the Russian peninsula of Kola and Moscow.

In its editing effects, long tracking shots and lighting direction, the Revolt of the Fishermen is stylistically similar to the works of Soviet film directors Sergei Eisenstein and Vsevolod Pudovkin from the transition period from silent to sound film. However, due to the technique of the moving camera and its independent sound direction, the feature film also contrasts with the Russian film tradition.

The Revolt of the Fishermen premiered in the Soviet Union in October 1934. An export version with subtitles was distributed in other European countries the following year. The film was presented for the first time in West Germany during the 6th West German Short Film Festival in March 1960. It has since been presented in film societies, arthouse cinemas and film festivals such as the Berlinale 2012, but the "precarious condition of copies slowed down a wider reception".