IN THE WHALE is an award-winning feature-length film about arguably the greatest fish story ever told, though this one is true. It’s the account of a man who survived to tell the tale of being swallowed by a whale and what happened after he escaped.
In the shark-filled waters off Cape Cod, Michael Packard has long tempted fate. For several months a year, Packard and his longtime mate, Josiah Mayo, cast off nearly every morning around dawn and navigate through the half-light to their diving grounds off Provincetown, the idiosyncratic, isolated community where they grew up at the tip of the Cape.
In an experience of biblical proportions, Packard was engulfed by a humpback whale caught in the watery cavity of its massive mouth. After some 30 seconds of pitch-black captivity, in which he expected to die, he was spit out, fins first, to the surface, where Mayo and another fisherman rescued him.
The publicity was similarly dizzying for the reclusive fisherman, whose survival story spread around the world in news dispatches. But what came after the limelight dimmed was even more significant for Packard.
Filmmaker David Abel will be on hand for a Q&A following the screening.
Film starts at 7:00 pm / run time: 1 hr, 21 minutes
Doors open 45 minutes before film
$13 – general admission
$10 – seniors, students, military (ID must be presented at door to confirm eligibility)
Tickets can be purchased online or on the night of the screening at the door through the MONIFF box office, available in the Opera House lobby. Email inquiries@moniff.org or call 603-522-7190.
