Directed by Ashley Sabin and David Redmon • Documentary • 2012 • 81 minutes
Downeast is an experiential story that unfolds over the course of a year-and-a-half in the small lobster village of Prospect Harbor, Maine. It observes the closing of the last remaining Sardine Cannery in the United States that shut down in April 2010. A few months later, Boston-based entrepreneur Antonio Bussone purchased the plant, hoping to re-build a lobster processing facility and rehire the laid-off sardine workers (most of whom are women over 65 years old).
Antonio's troubles begin on the first day he arrives to Prospect Harbor during a town-hall meeting as local politicians oppose his vision of rebuilding the factory with the use of a $200,000 federal grant combined with his investment of more than $2 million dollars. Undeterred, Antonio moves forward, determined to build and operate one of the first lobster factories in the United States.
Up Next in Environments & Ecologies
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Raid on the Atlantic
Directed by Nicolas Van Ingen • Documentary • 2023 • 52 minutes
West African waters have one of the richest fish stocks in the world. This has been a blessing for the people of the region.
Since the 1980’s, foreign powers have rushed to profit from this rich fish stock. European first, then Chi...
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Power Struggle
Directed by Robbie Leppzer • Documentary • 2019 • 86 minutes
Democracy prevails when a nuclear engineer turned whistle-blower, a 93-year old grandmother, and a scrappy new governor join forces with a dedicated array of citizen activists to accomplish a rare grassroots environmental victory in cl...
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Surviving Progress
Directed by Mathieu Roy & Harold Crooks • Documentary • 2011 • 86 minutes
Technological advancement, economic development, population increase—are they signs of a thriving society? Or too much of a good thing? Executive Produced by Martin Scorsese, this provocative documentary explores the conce...
