3 FEET UNDER (2005)
3 FEET UNDER
Documentary
USA / 63 Minutes
Directed and Produced by Justin Bookey
Original songs by The Bottomfeeders
Original score by George Adelson, Justin Bookey, Adam Willis
Additional music by Chet Atkins, Kodo with DJ Krush
Winner - Thunderbird International Film Festival - Best Documentary
It sports a phallic neck three feet long and a life span of 160-plus years. It’s the world’s largest burrowing clam. It's jokingly referred to as the Washington State Bird.
3 FEET UNDER explores how the geoduck (“gooey duck”) has garnered a devoted following in the Pacific Northwest over the past century. We follow Jack, a long-time Seattleite who was raised in a kosher Brooklyn home, as he prepares for his annual geoduck dig. Jack provides insights into his transformation into a seasoned Pacific Northwesterner and connoisseur of the King of Clams.
Jack’s proud knowledge of Seattle, its waterways, and clamming culture propels the action through many layers of geoduck subculture. The Evergreen State College in Olympia adopted the geoduck as its official mascot along with the motto Omnia Extares ("Let It All Hang Out”). Devotees sing songs, design dolls, and trade folklore about the burrowing bivalve. Environmentalists beam about its ocean-cleansing siphoning powers. Diners in Hong Kong restaurants pay more than $100 a plate for imported geoduck.
Not to be left out, Washington State regulators claim a piece of this bonanza by auctioning off duck-digging rights every year to commercial harvesters, whose divers “run” along the sea floor and pull up geoducks. And crooks have broken strict clamming laws, resulting in the notorious Clamscam trials.
www.duckumentary.com
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