Jack has been married to Maggie for over half his life. He works as Hand Raker on the mussel beds in North Wales with his younger brother, Dyfan, and Dyfan’s three sons. Jack has always assumed that his own boy, Tom, will join the family business on leaving school but Tom’s resistance to follow in his footsteps causes familial tension. Tensions are further inflamed by the arrival of an itinerant deckhand, Daniel, who makes known his feelings for Jack. In this remote, rural community where life revolves around Church and fishery, Jack is faced with an impossible dilemma. On The Sea is a beautiful, sensual and at times, tragic exploration of masculinity, place and desire.
Filmmaker details: Helen Walsh
Helen Walsh’s debut novel Brass won the Betty Trask Award and was the most widely reviewed book of 2004. Natasha Walters, writing in Vogue, called it, ‘One of the most striking coming of age stories I have ever read.’ Her second novel Once Upon A Time In England won the Somerset Maugham Prize and The Lemon Grove , her most recent, was a critically acclaimed best-seller that she is currently adapting for TV. Helen wrote and directed her debut feature, The Violators in 2016 and was awarded BAFTA’s Breakthrough New Director. Her recent Channel 4 show, The Gathering (2024), which she created and wrote was the recipient of three RTS Awards. On The Sea , her sophomore feature, recently premiered at Edinburgh Inter- national Film Festival.