Kensington Native's Film Wins Big at Sundance

Kensington native John Hibey and friend Cutter Hodierne wanted to make a feature-length film about Somali pirates, but, not knowing much about the look and feel of East Africa, they realized they'd have to do some research.

So, naturally, they trekked out to the coast of Kenya to immerse themselves in the culture of Somali refugees in Mombasa, Hibey wrote in his blog for Huffington Post.

What resulted was "Fishing Without Nets," a short film directed by Hodierne and co-written with Hibey, which just won the jury prize in short filmmaking at this week's Sundance Film Festival.

The movie features a mostly non-professional cast of locals the two met in Mombasa, and it follows a poor Somali fisherman who joins a group of pirates to make money.

In light of the 17-minute film's success, Hibey and Hodierne hope to shoot a feature-length version of the story this summer, according to the Washington Post. 

Hibey grew up in Kensington and attended . He's blogging about the Sundance experience for the Huffington Post, and you can follow along on the site.