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A uniquely local documentary is premiering this week at the Sarasota Film Festival. Fish Fry & Fellowship, directed and produced by award-winning filmmaker Paul Ratner and written by Durand Adams, a former circuit judge and documentary filmmaker, the documentary shines a spotlight on a local fish fry at St. Andrews AME Church in Palmetto.

“We’ve been working on this film for over four years,” says Ratner. “Our partners in production, Charles Williams—a current judge—and Durand Adams are also documentary filmmakers who attended these fish fries and came to us with the idea to do a film about it. This film tells the story of this particular fish fry in Palmetto, but also of all fish fries in the South and their importance to the community.”

Both Ratner and his wife, Petra, a veteran in international film production, worked together to bring Fish Fry to life. In the South, fish fries hold a place of historical significance as a way for Black communities to gather during segregation. “Blacks were largely not allowed in white restaurants, so these Friday fish fries were the only chance for the community to get together and have fun,” says Ratner. “In our film, we have a lot of folks who were or are prominent in Manatee County. In particular, we followed the legendary football coach Eddie Shannon, who recently passed away, and former school principal Barbara Harvey, who shared a lot of her memories.”

Throughout filming, the Ratners discovered another element of the story—a nearby historical Black cemetery, in which the community worked together to identify unmarked graves. “It’s a cemetery where a lot of people connected to the fish fry are buried. Two ladies at the fish fry started a project to identify all the graves, over 700 of them, and created a map and a type of search engine for it,” says Ratner.

As for the fish itself? Ratner could attest that it indeed was tasty. “The fish is very good and the company is even better,” he says.

Fish Fry & Fellowship, April 11, 2pm at Sanier Pavilion of New College of Florida, 5313 Bay Shore Rd., Sarasota.

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