‘Now, as an adult, I wonder why is it that things we want the most also scare us the most. SEA CHILD is my attempt to capture that fearless sensation of childhood, hold on to it, and act on it…’ – Marina Shron

Part thriller, part surreal dreamscape, Marina Shron’s SEA CHILD explores ideas of narrative and memory, the power of the elements and of time, and most of all the power of innocence and imagination. Inspired by watching a young girl pacing up and down a quay contemplating a jump, as well as her own childhood relief in water during restless beach-bound summers, the film questions adult assumptions of can and cannot and returns instead to a world seen through a child’s eyes.

Lingering light pans over a scenic lake both beautiful and tragic. A girl tells the story of how her parents met, at the lake which was to become her father’s grave, her mother’s obsession, and her own home. She photographs her mother, who lies on cold sand, asleep to her daughter’s longing for attention, through wilfulness or simply oblivion. Never recovered from the death of her lover, maternal roles are inverted, as daughter wraps blanket and arms around mother, cradling her and protecting her, momentarily, from her own thoughts. The girl, Lila, on the cusp of womanhood in both body and mind, is forced to grow in maturity beyond her years in some ways, yet retains a childlike obstinacy and need for parental attention, shown in the petulant throwing of her mother’s expensive phone into the sand.

The water draws her in, compelling and comforting as though her dead father is calling …

The key aspect of childhood she possesses, however, is that of curiosity and of fearlessness. Her instinct is to follow the impulses and impossibilities of life on which her mother, in the anxiety of adulthood and the pull of the past, has turned her back. In the pivotal moments of her coming-of-age, she wonders what would happen if she jumped into the water, infinite and deep; how her body would respond to gravity; whether in a lack of the stale air of a father’s absence, she might finally begin to breathe.

Just as her mother cannot tear herself away from the watery scene of her former happiness, heartbreak and loss, Lila is drawn to the lake where her father disappeared prior to her birth. It fascinates and intrigues her. The water draws her in, compelling and comforting as though her dead father is calling her home in her mother’s absent eyes tell just how deep she is lost to mourning. Kaleidoscopic underwater scenes overwhelm and surge. No longer drowning in grief and a fatherless childhood, she is happy, without fear. She is free. Gravity can not reach her, she is at home here.

SEA CHILD screens at Toronto Independent Film Festival on Monday September 8th.

httpvh://youtu.be/uEG-ySQ3NAg