Land and Sea

Nelson Coles had no sons.
But he had daughters.

Megan Coles developed an interest in her father's lobster fishery when she was still playing with her dolls. All the girls hung around the wharf flopping around the water in their rubber boots waiting for a ride when he would come ashore. Megan was the one who would end up fishing with her father during the summer.

But becoming part of his fishery came about only after some serious soul-searching.
Like many teenagers, there was a time when Megan felt she knew better than her mom and dad. She couldn't understand why her father stuck with a profession that was so unstable. She wanted him to have a job where he could wear a tie, or work 9 to 5. It was when her parents wanted her to become a nurse or a teacher, that her attitude changed. She had no interest in either of those professions, both of which would provide a stable financial lifestyle.

She wanted to become a writer, a line of work as uncertain as the fishery. That's when she concluded that if the only thing she wanted to do was be involved in the arts community, so too should her father be a fisherman, if that's what his heart desired.

A Fisherman's Daughter takes viewers from vibrant downtown Montreal to a remote island off the Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland. It speaks to the similarities of two uncertain professions where you are totally independent; two professions where you have to invest time and money, but never knowing if you will come back with the product you need to make a living.