“When I lost my father as a teenager, stories about loss helped me to name the unmentionable, to learn to understand the incomprehensible. Yet, I often felt unfulfilled, more so; I was sometimes angered by movies that were supposedly about a loss but then conveniently made a time jump of “six months after the events”. Sometimes a deceased parent even reappeared! Other movies took the topic of grief seriously but were often so heavy that I thought I’d never be okay again. And some were almost parable-like with characters who are outsiders and out of touch with the world of a young viewer. 

Sea Sparkle is my brave attempt to jump into that gap and create a story that takes the (young) viewer seriously, but at the same time draws them into a story full of magic, excitement, adventure, humor, and friendship. After all, just because you’re grieving doesn’t mean you can’t have an adventure! Young people who experience something serious, such as loss, can often feel very lonely. No one understands that sometimes they have to flee into something magical, like a (sea) monster, to cope with life. With Sea Sparkle, I want to show them that they are not alone, that it can happen to anyone. That’s why the arena of the film is very recognizable, with skating, cool clothes, and music straight out of a 12-year-old’s Spotify -list (Angèle).

Through a quest of colorful characters in a unique setting, I hope to make a difficult topic accessible for conversation. I hope that those who leave the theatre can have a talk about the loss of a loved one, about the fact that everyone grieves in their own way. I want to say that – no matter how dark life sometimes is – there will always be sea sparks.”