The Fisherman made history before most people in West Africa had heard of it.
In 2024, it became Ghana’s first official selection at the Venice International Film Festival in 81 years. Though screened out of competition, it won the Fellini Medal, UNESCO’s Enrico Fulchignoni Prize, awarded to films that promote peace and tolerance. The accolades continued with honours at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles and Ghana’s Regal Film Awards, cementing its reputation long before its Nigerian theatrical release.
The film follows Atta Oko, a retired traditional fisherman played by Ricky Adelayitar, whose lifelong dream of becoming the boat chief of his fishing community slips away when the role is handed to the arrogant son of the outgoing chief. Bitter and adrift, Atta’s life takes an unexpected turn when he meets Koobi, a talking fish voiced by Nigerian comedian Dulo Harris, whom only he can hear.
Joined by three younger companions who share his ambition of owning a fishing boat, Atta travels to Accra in search of a loan. The journey forces him to reconnect with a daughter who has embraced city life while confronting a world that no longer bends to tradition or his own expectations.
What distinguishes The Fisherman is its refusal to follow the route audiences might expect. It embraces fantasy and broad comedy without abandoning emotional depth. Koobi’s irreverent humour provides many of the laughs, but beneath the absurdity lies a thoughtful exploration of generational conflict, environmental decline, and the difficult balance between preserving tradition and accepting change.
The opening scene captures that tension with remarkable clarity. Atta tells a folktale to a classroom of students who dismiss it in favour of science, establishing a conflict between inherited wisdom and modern thinking that quietly shapes everything that follows. It is a deceptively simple beginning for a film with far more on its mind than its playful premise suggests.
Adelayitar, whose career spans more than four decades, delivers a performance that anchors every emotional turn. His portrayal of Atta earned him Best Male Actor in a Leading Role at the Regal Film Awards, his first acting honour after forty years in the industry. Whether playing stubbornness, heartbreak or quiet hope, he gives the film a centre of gravity that keeps its fantasy grounded in recognisable human emotion.
Endurance Grand makes an assured acting debut as Shasha, a young woman determined to break into the male-dominated fishing trade. Director Zoey Martinson has said the character reflects her own experience navigating a male-dominated industry, lending Shasha’s ambitions an authenticity that extends beyond the screenplay. Casting director Mawuko Kuadzi also received well-deserved recognition with an Artios Award nomination for assembling a convincing ensemble.
Not every element lands with the same confidence. Some supporting characters never develop beyond their narrative function, while a late reconciliation arrives with too little emotional groundwork to feel fully earned. Koobi’s visual effects, blending practical and digital techniques, fluctuate between charmingly whimsical and distractingly artificial, though they rarely undermine the film’s warmth.
Visually, however, The Fisherman is consistently assured. Adam Carboni’s cinematography captures Ghana’s coastline with patient, expansive compositions that reinforce both the beauty of the fishing communities and the uncertainty surrounding their future. Production designer Douglas Baiden, costume designer Gifty Mawuena Sossavi, editor Jasmin Way and composer Avi Amon collectively create a world that feels lived-in, textured and unmistakably Ghanaian.
Martinson has said the project originated as a short film after learning that Jamestown, home to Accra’s Ga fishing community, was being cleared to make way for a new seaport. She has also spoken about drawing from her teenage years in Keta, where living among a fishing community shaped her understanding of its rhythms, humour and resilience. Those influences give the film an authenticity that extends beyond its fantasy premise.
“I wanted to capture Ghana’s amazing sense of humour through a quirky fantasy,” Martinson has said, arguing that African cinema is too often confined to stories defined solely by hardship. The Fisherman feels like a deliberate response to that assumption, proving that laughter can carry serious ideas just as effectively as tragedy.
Its Nigerian theatrical release, however, did not enjoy the same success as its festival journey. Speaking with The Nollywood Reporter, Martinson expressed disappointment with the rollout, saying the film was not given the opportunity it deserved to reach audiences. She also offered to support cinema watch parties if exhibitors were willing to organise additional screenings, underscoring her commitment to connecting the film with viewers despite the challenges of its release.
For a film that travelled confidently across the international festival circuit, its Nigerian cinema run feels surprisingly modest. That is unfortunate, because The Fisherman speaks directly to conversations about community, identity and environmental change that resonate well beyond Ghana’s coastline.
The Fisherman is not without flaws. Some supporting storylines remain underdeveloped, and its visual effects occasionally reveal their limitations. Yet those shortcomings never overshadow a film that is generous, imaginative and emotionally sincere. By choosing humour over despair, Martinson reminds audiences that African stories do not have to be defined by suffering to carry weight.
The talking fish is absurd. The film’s heart is not.
Release Date: September 19, 2025
Runtime: 105 minutes
Streaming Platform: Cinemas
Director: Zoey Martinson
Cast(s): Ricky Adelayitor, Endurance Dedzo, William Lamptey, Kiki-Romi Abdulazeem, Dulo Harris, Adwoa Akoto, Emmanuel Affadzi, and Emmanuella Gyan
