New Review!

"An honest, fascinating glimpse inside the hearts and minds of young Maine lobstermen. "Life By Lobster" casts aside romantic stereotypes, and focuses on the raw emotions and economics guiding the industry today. This film should be required viewing for every Maine citizen." 

- James Kaiser, Author, “Acadia: The Complete Guide” and Winner of the Ben Franklin and Independent Publisher Awards

Check Out LBL on IMDB!

Check out Life by Lobster on IMDB.com.  

Associated links include director Iain McCray Martin and co-producer J. Miller Tobin.

LBL Featured in MLA September Newsletter

Life by Lobster fisherman Ben Weed and director Iain McCray Martin are featured in this month's Maine Lobstermen's Association (MLA) newsletter in an article written by Hanna Wheeler: (click on the image to read each section)

New Screenings!

We are proud to announce that two new Life by Lobster screenings have been confirmed:

LBL will screen at the Grand Theater in Ellsworth, Maine on Sunday, September 27th at 7 p.m. with "Tire Tracks," the first documentary film from LBL co-producer Opera House Arts.

For more information on this event click here.

LBL will also screen as part of the Camden International Film Festival Sunday, October 4 at noon at the Farnsworth Museum of Art in Rockland, Maine.  The film was selected to be part of the festival’s “Features at the Farnsworth” component, which showcases films created by filmmakers living or working in Maine, and will be part of a day-long sustainability event.

For more information on this event click here.

LBL at the Maine International Film Festival

Photo from MIFF Q & A:

Life by Lobster director, Iain McCray Martin (left) and LBL fisherman Mac Hardy (right)

Maine International Film Festival

We are pleased to announce that Life by Lobster had a great reception at this year's Maine International Film Festival.  "MIFF received more than 9,000 submissions from which organizers chose more than 100 to screen over the 10-day span of the festival."

Didn't catch LBL at MIFF this year?  Here's your chance to see it again:

Over the weekend after Labor Day, MIFF will screen 12 films as part of "MIFF by the Sea," a presentation of highlights from this year's festival.  This event will be held at Reel Pizza in Bar Harbor, ME the weekend of Friday, Sept. 11th to Monday, Sept. 14th.  Life by Lobster is among these films that showcase "some of the most exciting and innovative filmmakers from Maine and the rest of New England."

"Maine Film Festival Set for Island Debut.."

Click here for more details about the Sept. 11-14 screenings

Life by Lobster Synopsis

STONINGTON, ME – Contrasting the stark beauty of the Downeast Maine seacoast with the stark reality of earning a living there, Life by Lobster, a new hour-long documentary by independent filmmaker Iain McCray Martin takes you inside the lives of five young lobster fishermen determined to pursue this proud traditional vocation against steadily mounting obstacles.

Why?  Because in Stonington, a blue-collar fishing town at the southernmost tip of the Blue Hill peninsula, lobstering is king, generating nearly $30 million in annual revenues to the 300-plus boats that fish out of this port.  It is the economic engine that drives the entire economy of this remote, coastal island community.

The rewards can be great – lobstering has been good here for as long as these young fishermen have been alive.  But things are changing.  Record landings have tapered off, fuel and bait prices have soared, and a prolonged global recession has sent lobster prices plunging to levels not seen since the 1970s.

Against this backdrop, Mac, 21, and four more of his high school classmates are each trying to carve out their own niche in this industry steeped in tradition, tightly self-regulated, and fiercely competitive.  It's not easy, and some of them probably won't make it.
Life by Lobster includes extraordinary behind-the-scenes access to the principal characters and their lives – both on and off the water – and features dramatic footage compiled over three years of filming, supported by a driving original soundtrack.

While the story is uniquely Maine, many of the issues addressed in Life by Lobster are echoed in dinner table discussions all across the country.  Will my children have the same opportunities I had?  Should I go to college or learn a trade?  What happens if this all doesn't work out?

Tough questions, tough choices, and no easy answers.  But for the characters of Life by Lobster, that's just another day out on the water.  "There are no guarantees."

STONINGTON, ME – Contrasting the stark beauty of the Downeast Maine seacoast with the stark reality of earning a living there, Life by Lobster, a new hour-long documentary by independent filmmaker Iain McCray Martin takes you inside the lives of five young lobster fishermen determined to pursue this proud traditional vocation against steadily mounting obstacles.