Absolutely Canadian S23E08 - The Lobster Whisperer

When Michael Sullivan is not fishing lobster, he's thinking about how to fish lobster. A 5th-generation fisherman living on Quebec's Gaspé coast, he has tasked himself with building 200 wooden traps during the cold, dark winter months while waiting for the next season to begin. The program takes place in Michael's small basement workshop, out on his boat, and underwater, as there is another important voice to balance the narrative: that of the lobster from the ocean floor. Award-winning poet Sue Goyette, and award-winning animator Aparna Kapur bring the lobster to life, its voice resonating uncannily like that of Canadian writer Margaret Atwood. The lobster offers up its thoughts and dreams – a chorus from the depths of the ocean. Michael works in his workshop, he waits, and the lobsters wait. Are the lobsters part nightmare, part fever dream, and part ghosts from centuries past? An evergreen capsule of the relationship between our species in fragile harmony with our surroundings, and a deep insight into this longstanding local tradition of this special maritime region in Quebec.