SYNOPSIS Fear takes full shape when a loving grandmother (played by iconic contemporary dancer Kilda Northcott) is charged with the care of her young grandchild. When their bedtime routine starts to unravel, Grandma grows increasingly frustrated and her deepest fears begin to take on a physical shape. Desperate to protect her grandchild from the emerging dangers, she fights off the terrors surrounding them both with emotional consequences.
CAST Kilda Northcott, Mateo Cruz
PUPPETEERS Paul Lewis, Alex Leonhartsberger, Michele Powles
DIRECTOR Alyx Duncan
SCREENWRITER Michele Powles
PRODUCERS Lani-rain Feltham, Michele Powles, Alyx Duncan
CINEMATOGRAPHER Gin Loane
EDITOR Adam-Luka Turjak
PUPPET DESIGNER Paul Lewis
COMPOSER Francesca Mountfort
SOUND DESIGN Vedat Kiyici
ART DIRECTOR Robin Rawstorne
COSTUME DESIGN Katherine Melody Rogers
DIRECTORS NOTES The Sea Inside Her is about fear. It's about the fragility of being able to stay in control of yourself, as the world we once knew starts to disappear from us. In becoming a parent I’ve realised the responsibility I have as a caregiver. With all the dangers of the world ‘out there’ (global warming, plastic and oil pollution, wildlife extinction rates) and imagining the future, it’s easy to come adrift. On top of this, children can make you crazy. For the first time in my adult life, I had a moment where I became so overwhelmed with the tantruming exuberance of my child that I had an adult tantrum. It made me realise that as big and scary as the dangers are 'out there', in that moment, I was actually the scary thing in the room, capable of putting the emotional stability of my child at risk.
This work builds on my movement-lead film-making practice, born from many years as a choreographer. Utilising actors, puppets and VFX I aim to create a lyricism within the frame, an approach innovated for my previous short THE TIDE KEEPER. Both that film and THE SEA INSIDE HER purposefully use no dialogue and instead lean into movement and the fantastical within the mundane in order to connect with people on a visceral body-brain level.