Making Breakwater

The inspiration to make Breakwater came during a highly galvanising conversation Jemima Chen (Producer) and I had with Mike Hoffman and Andy Paterson, the Director and Producer of the 1982 film Privileged at its fortieth anniversary screening. Privileged was the first feature film to be made by students from the University of Oxford, launching the careers of Hugh Grant, Rachel Portman, Mike, and Andy amongst many others. Encouraged by their support, Jemima and I set out to make another feature film forty years later, starting a project that snowballed into something far greater than we could have ever anticipated.

Having grown up in rural Suffolk, I have always felt deeply connected to the shingle beaches and windswept mudflats of its coastline. I have long wanted to create a film that was not only tethered to its brooding yet golden landscape, but was also influenced and defined by it. This impulse, combined with my desire to explore the interplay between longing, and grief, quickly gave rise to Breakwater, following Otto's cautious relationship with John, a mysterious and solitary angler at the fringe of his coastal community.

Breakwater also draws heavily from the films I adore and see myself reflected in, such as the eerie, secretive coastal palettes of Mark Jenkin's Bait (2019), Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank (2009), and Michael Pearce's Beast (2017). Equally significant is Benjamin Britten’s 1945 opera, Peter Grimes, inspired by the same stretch of Suffolk coast where we shot the film. Breakwater faintly echoes the story of the eponymous fisherman, whose line 'I hear those voices that will not be drowned' is carved into Maggie Hambling’s iconic 'Scallop' sculpture on Aldeburgh beach which becomes such a vital symbol in the film.