Tides

Tides observes the daily rhythms of lobstermen and kelp harvesters on Swan’s Island, Maine, where time is measured by tides and weather. Without dialogue or narration, the film immerses viewers in the tactile, sensory world of maritime labor: setting and hauling lobster traps, sorting the catch, lifting kelp from the water. There are no protagonists here, not even among the workers themselves. Instead, the film offers an attentive, quietly reverent portrait of labor as a collective practice, marked by moments of care, precision and tenderness that emerge through repetition. By focusing on these elemental gestures, the work uncovers the quiet knowledge and endurance passed down through generations, offering a contemplative study of human interaction with the environment and the unspoken practices that sustain a community.