Reclaim The Sea-The Film captures what the organisation does with the hope of spreading awareness and expanding the reach of Reclaim The Sea
In the summer of 2023 Producer Mel Mackie and her team - Tom Kirkman, Bess Manley, Amber Amare and Anthony Butler - joined Reclaim The Sea to capture their work. Stevie-Jo Fowler joined Mel's team late in 2023 as editor and has been integral in creating the trailer.
We are raising money to fund the final stage of filming and the edit, music etc. to prepare the documentary for cinema viewing and screening events and exhibitions. The first stage has been done purely on a voluntary basis with the film making team giving their time and equipment on the weekends. They feel this is a really important conversation and the powerful stories can be told as an alternative to the divisive rhetoric of the Government.
Having built meaningful and trusting relationships with the women in the film, the team is planning to do some more filming with them and their families, to capture their backstories, get an understanding as to why people flee their home countries, and get hear about their hopes and dreams now they have settled in Plymouth. Displacement is a topical and emotive issue. In this next stage, the documentary hopes to explore this further through the lives and experiences of the women who we've got to know through Reclaim The Sea.
Reclaim The Sea is a C.I.C that aims to share the tools to enable people to reclaim the sea as a safe space when it has previously been one of trauma. We believe that the therapeutic benefits of the sea should be accessible to all, no matter who you are or where you have come from. Working predominantly with refugees and asylum seekers, we run swimming, SUP and surf lessons in a trauma informed way to allow people to experience the sea in a safe and supportive community.
Reclaim The Sea - The Film is a documentary following our eight week women's programme in 2023. It showcases the bravery of our participants, many of whom who have never been in the sea before, exhibiting how their confidence grows over the course of the programme. It also follows one of the participants from our pilot programme in 2022 who has since gone on to become qualified SUP instructors.
One of the participants, who has settled in Plymouth after fleeing Ukraine in 2022, took part in the 2023 programme. Reflecting on how she felt at the start of summer, she said:
“Before this I didn’t go swimming because I was frightened by the water, I don’t know the reason but I was.”
After her final session with Reclaim The Sea, we asked her whether anything had changed over the last eight weeks, she replied:
“Now I have started to go swimming every Sunday and I am not afraid. I perceive it like a friend, if you are calm and respectful towards the sea it gives back the same. I feel like it is very important for me, for my mental state, to go swimming .”
“But its more than going swimming, it’s about atmosphere, it’s about exchanging energy. Our women’s circle is so supportive and helpful. I always come back really happy, and I am so thankful for this, it definitely has brightened my summer.”
The aim of the project is to spread awareness of our work, with the hope of expanding our reach and setting of satellite RTS programmes nationally, and hopefully internationally, with the first already being set up in Wales.
We appreciate any contribution that can be made, thank you so much for your support.
This project successfully funded on 28th March 2024