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The village of St. Paul's River is reeling after the 2003 moratorium on cod fishing. What will become of their way of life if they can't fish?

The fate of tiny St. Paul's River hangs in the balance after the closure of the East Coast fisheries. This isolated hamlet on Quebec's Lower North Shore depended entirely on cod fishing for its existence. Now the community that feels like "paradise" to its residents is losing its young people, its ancient skills, its very identity as it searches for a way to survive until the fish come back. Questions of responsibility fuel their discussions: Who is at fault? The government? Foreign fleets? Or maybe the fishers themselves? Tenacity, make-work programs and limited-quota seasons allow St. Paul's River to cling to life on this rocky coast, "The land God gave to Cain". But for how long?

Article

COD HELP US

Running Time: 22:30 minutes Category: Documentary
Language: English Screening Formats Available: DVD, Mini-DV, DVCam Technical: 4:3, Colour, Stereo, NTSC Cast (Subjects of Documentary): Residents of St-Paul's River, QC

Credits: Produced, Directed & Filmed by Ezra Soiferman Editing 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

Sales, press info: Please contact Perpetuum Productions

Contact/Sales: Ezra Soiferman, Producer/Director
Perpetuum Productions
2166 Marcil
Montreal, Quebec
H4A 2Z1 Canada
(514) 484-1881
Email: ezra@pressuredrop.com

Short Synopsis: A tiny Anglophone village at the edge of Quebec's Lower North Shore is desperate to survive. COD HELP US offers an intimate and emotional look at the people of St. Paul's River and their efforts to weather the crisis that has all but closed the village's only industry: commercial fishing.

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, has been called "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 village for good. Through interviews, fishing expeditions and frank testimonies, the film shows viewers 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.

Contributed by Citizen Shift