Sea Holly

Directed by

Holly and her friends sit near coastal cliffs, inadvertently resting on the very precipice of a shifting social and political landscape: young adults part of a bygone world.

Returning to her coastal hometown for the 1997 British general election - Labour's last electoral landslide, a young girl reunites with her school friends and is forced to come  to terms with the loss of her mother. On the cusp of adulthood, she faces a new millennium, and with it the promise of a new age.

Holly and her friends sit near coastal cliffs, inadvertently resting on the very precipice of a shifting social and political landscape: young adults part of a bygone world. The film responds to what are now precarious times, capturing a feeling brewing in Britain’s cultural landscape as it looks back into its recent past. Drenched in a dreamy colour palette and set in coastal England—on a beach akin to a theatre set—the film pays homage to the vibrant spirit of the late 1990s, with vivid costume and set design. It is an observational tragedy that reflects on the changes since 1997, but also on the strange echoes of that time that we are experiencing at present.

Filmmaker Jerusha West explains: 'The film draws from both personal feelings of loss as well as more collective and societal forms of it, where many feel like they lack support, as if suspended and lost at sea. It angers me the way the most vulnerable people in our society are treated so appallingly by a government and political system that feels like it’s beyond repair. At the same time I do think that instability, chaos, and lack of anchorage are the most fertile ground for hope and radical change.'

CREDITS

Cast includes: @nellalcraft @ebonyaboagye @j_caesar_ @sjb.rd @siontudorowen @billhurstone @ty__tennant @isadora.silva.watkins
Director and Writer: @jerushawest
Producer: @tuli_litvak_film_producer
Executive Producer: Ameenah Ayub Allen
DOP @morgan_k._Spencer
Editor: @catriona_d
Composer: Sampo
Production Design: @tim.a.adams
Costume Designers: @prus_czarnetzki and @skylarkang
Hair and Makeup: @leannastellasuffolkmua
Colourist: @finlayreid_colour
Sound Recordist @saculpmas
Line Producer: @tateturnbull
Advisor: Geoffrey Hazelton-Swales
Casting Workshop Leader: @absmfilms
Production Manager: @hanagudelis
1st Assistant Director: @gavmukerji
Gaffer: @o8rien
Spark: @t.m.b_film
1st Assistant Camera: @aristide.russo
2nd Assistant Camera: @nielshalle
Runners: @eleanoremp @eva.kd + Grace Stotesbury
Stills Photographer: @marianap.res
Re-Recording Mixer / Supervising Sound Editor: @conorxkelly
Dialogue Editor - Jonathan Pepe
ADR Editor - James White
ADR Mixer - Alex Stylianou
Music Editor - @sarahmwalsh1
Sound Effects Editor - Sean Miller
Beach Track - @19sound
Graphic Designer - Buzz Burman
T-Shirt Designer: @sophiedaniel
Trailer Editor: @rochthesaint
Serviced by @goldcrest_post @MCX FILMS @PIXIPIXEL @performanceins
© Fidge Films Ltd. 2023

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