Smokin' Fish

After the death of his grandmother, Cory Mann, who has Tlingit Indian blood from his mother's side, goes searching for his roots in southeastern Alaska. He settles in the region of Juneau and goes into the fishing trade. He doesn't just cook salmon and other fish, he catches, cleans, smokes, cuts, sells and eats fish. This brings out the salesman in Mann, so he expands into selling authentic Indian rugs and clothing. Cory Mann and the viewer face the confrontation between the modern American lifestyle and the traditional values of the Tlingit people. His family radiates simplicity and joie de vivre, and his aunt doesn't believe that modern technology makes people happier. "You can't eat your computer. It tastes horrible." Alongside the tales of Mann and his family runs the story of how Alaska was once brutally colonized by Russia and then sold to the United States. The casually filmed pristine beauty of Alaska, where roaming bears are never far and canoes risk capsizing on the wild river, renders mankind fragile. -like maps indicating travel from one place to another underline the boyish, adventurous nature of the film.