Bucks Harbor
The logo for the 76th Berlinale (the silhouette of a bear beside cursive text “Berlinale” and text “76. Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin | Berlinale Panorama) appears in front of a black background.
SPEAKER #1 (in voiceover): If you’re the son of a fisherman, you have to be a certain way and...
A person wearing a baseball cap, glasses, and a sweatshirt that says “Downeast Wire Trap” sits at a small table in a kitchen.
[DOORBELL RINGS]
The person turns toward the door and begins to get up.
SPEAKER #1: Oh, that’s my father.
The person puts a finger up toward the cameraperson.
[MUSIC BEGINS TO PLAY OVER THE SOUND OF WAVES]
A boat sails on choppy waters with the tree-lined coastline visible in the background.
Close-up on chain links over netting.
[CHAINS CLANG]
View of a person in a hoodie standing inside of the boat, looking out onto the water.
An adolescent wearing an orange jumpsuit and blue gloves lifts a metal cage from one side of the boat to another, and stumbles.
Profile view of an adolescent wearing an orange jumpsuit, hoodie and a baseball cap, with the water and coastline in the background.
SPEAKER #2 (in voiceover): On the other side of the bay, she’s deep.
Close-up on a pile of moving lobsters.
SPEAKER #2 (in voiceover): She’s deep and wild.
Profile view of the speaker, a person with a mustache and wet hair who is driving the boat.
SPEAKER #2: You can love the ocean, but it don’t love you back.
Speaker #2 turns toward the camera with wide eyes.
A person with long blond hair, sunglasses, driving gloves, and studded bracelets drives a car.
SPEAKER #3: Oh, lobsters? If they was bigger than us, they would have no problem eating us.
Close-up on a lobster’s face, underwater.
SPEAKER #3: They would not care.
A person stands beside a large, outdoor fire and dumps a substance onto the fire. The flames grow bigger.
SPEAKER #4 (in voiceover): You have to find your grounds...
Close-up on hands holding two small metal objects.
[UNIDENTIFIED YELLING]
Profile view of an adolescent.
SPEAKER #4 (in voiceover): ...and stand your grounds.
Front facing view of Speaker #4 wearing a t-shirt with an American flag with white text reading “I do solemnly swear that I will support & defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign & domestic, etc.” interspersed between the red lines.
SPEAKER #4: That’s what strong means here.
[TWANGY, SLOW MUSIC CONTINUES]
View of a small town with a church steeple surrounded by bare trees. A flock of birds flies by.
An older person stands in front of a garage with crossed arms, shaking their head.
SPEAKER #5: No, we don’t need men.
Close-up on someone slicing the head off of a fish with a knife.
SPEAKER #5: For what? Babies? [laughs]
Two people wearing orange hats, standing and crouching outside behind a tree log point large guns at an unidentified target.
[GUNSHOT]
[MUSIC SHIFTS, BECOMES MORE DRAMATIC]
Cut to black, with specks of light dancing in the corner.
The claws of a sea creature in dark water become visible.
SPEAKER #6 (in voiceover): My father used to beat the shit out of me.
An older person with a long beard, smoking a cigarette, stands on a boat.
SPEAKER #6 (in voiceover): He died when I was 17. He did... Probably a good thing he did...
Adolescent in profile sitting in the backseat of a car.
SPEAKER #6 (in voiceover): ...’cause I would have killed him. He had to go.
[BIRD AND ANIMAL SOUNDS]
Tall trees shrouded in mist.
SPEAKER #4 (in voiceover): She’s coming daylight.
A small boat sits in shallow water, shrouded in white fog, with a person hunched nearby reaching into the water.
[SOFT BANJO MUSIC BEGINS]
Two people stand in the shallow water, crouched over and reaching into the water, still surrounded by the white fog.
A lobster underwater.
SPEAKER #2 (in voiceover): Lobsters... and they can’t shed anymore.
Close-up on a lobster’s face.
SPEAKER #2 (in voiceover): They’re just done.
The sun shining through leaves on a tree, viewed from below.
Speaker #2, still wearing an orange vest, drives as the sun shines through the window.
SPEAKER #2: I don’t think it takes many bucks to keep...
Two deer walk through the woods.
SPEAKER #2: ...the population going.
Speaker #2 sits in a car and peers out of the window with small binoculars.
A hand holds a pencil drawing of a deer.
SPEAKER #5 (in voiceover): He’s got some talent.
Speaker #5 sits on a stool in a kitchen, holding the drawing of a deer.
SPEAKER #5: I just wish he could have gone to school for art.
Close-up on Speaker #5’s weathered face.
SPEAKER #5 (in voiceover): But his father just didn’t think it was a good way to make a living.
[BANJO MUSIC CONTINUES]
A firework shoots into the sky above a small building which glows red against the dark blue surroundings.
Two people, viewed from the back, watch a large fireworks display.
SPEAKER #2 (in voiceover): I don’t have any guys left in my family...
Front view of Speaker #2, wearing a trucker reading “Low Card” and a hoodie with a NASA logo and an American flag on it, speaks.
SPEAKER #2: ...but...
Speaker #4 stands in the forest over a dead buck, breathing heavily.
SPEAKER #2 (in voiceover): ... it’s just the life we live.
A wooden sign with a rope trim and chipped paint with text reading “Bucks Harbor.”
[MUSIC FADES]
Cut to black.
Saturday, May 2
2:30 pm | LeFrak Theater
New York Premiere
Director in Attendance: Pete Muller
2026 | 98 min | USA
Acclaimed documentary photographer Pete Muller makes his feature debut with Bucks Harbor, winner of the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury in Berlinale 2026’s Panorama section. Set against the rugged beauty of Downeast Maine, the film tenderly portrays a fishing community shaped by the unforgiving coastal landscape. Attuned to the interplay of gender, labor, and environment, Muller situates human life alongside the creatures that sustain it, offering a nuanced, quietly revelatory portrait.
This film is co-presented by the International Center of Photography.
Check out the full Margaret Mead Film Festival schedule or get a ticket to see Bucks Harbor.