Sand
2020 · 10m · UK
Directed by Maddie Barnes
Genres: coming-of-age, LGBTQ+, romance
Tones: contemplative, tender
In the English seaside town of Skegness, two teenage boys, Jamie and Curtis, share an intimate day at the beach until the arrival of a girl, Lindsey, forces them to confront questions of identity, attraction, and where they stand with each other.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Everyone's going to call this a sensitive coming-of-age story and pat themselves on the back—but Barnes is actually doing something weirder: she's using the classical patience of black-and-white and handheld restraint to make queer desire feel inevitable rather than transgressive, which is far more subversive than any explicit scene could be.
The film locates itself squarely in the lineage of Humphrey Jennings and the British lyric documentary tradition, where emotional truth emerges through formal discipline—the monochromatic palette and unhurried guitar score aren't stylistic choices but a deliberate conversation with how memory and longing have been formally articulated in cinema.
The handheld camera becomes the entire film: it's never nervous or searching, just present, and that stillness in the frame—the decision to *not* move the camera during the charged moments between the boys—is what lets the attraction breathe without commentary.
Reviews
Fun and emotional and although a little cliched at times, is as honest as the characters.
A really cute short that tackles some tough issues including sexual identity and how that crosses over bisexuality.
Festivals
- Super International Teen Film Festival 2020, Best LGBTQ+ Film