This is a documentary on our former home and the plight of the village where my family and I lived for 4 years. Two years after our arrival the following happened. (For those with high speed click on the title and watch the 22 min movie)
COD HELP USCast (Subjects of Documentary): Residents of St-Paul’s River, QC (English speaking)
Credits:
Produced, Directed & Filmed by Ezra Soiferman
Edited by Mika Goodfriend
Music by Residents of St-Paul’s River. Additional music by Finest Kind and Bud Davidge.
Developed with the assistance of the NFB, NFB CitizenShift and the CBC TransCanada Development Fund.
©2005 Perpetuum Productions
Screnings to date:
San Francisco Ocean Film Festival, CA - January, 2006
Canadian Heritage, Montreal - February, 2006
Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach, CA - Summer, 2006
Gray’s Reef Ocean Film Festival, Savannah, GA - September, 2006
DVD distributed by: The National Film Board of Canada, www.nfb.ca/store
Synopsis:
Faced with what seems like an insurmountable fisheries collapse, the 450 residents of Quebec's tiny and isolated St-Paul's River must quickly decide what their future holds. Often overlooked, the little known Lower North Shore region of Quebec, where St-Paul’s River lies, is known as the birthplace of North America’s traditional cod fishery. It is now also known as “the forgotten shore”.
This far-flung area on the easternmost tip of Quebec and the northern end of the Gulf of St-Lawrence is up against the same dwindling fishing industry as Canada’s Maritime provinces, but with far less media attention or government representation.
The film COD HELP US paints a revealing portrait of the residents of St-Paul’s River and examines their plans for survival. Can they stick it out through these hard times or must they leave their beloved village for good? Through frank interviews, scenic panoramas and lively fishing expeditions, award-winning Montreal filmmaker Ezra Soiferman (Man Of Grease, Tree Weeks) paints a stark portrait of what it’s like to be a villager in this community.
Now that plans to build a tourism industry are underway, the residents have banded together to kick-start what they hope will be a bright future. But can they make it happen? Only time will tell.
