A married couple struggle to piece their lives together after the tragic death of their teenage son brings into question their notions of acceptance and understanding.
Drama | 22 mins
written & directed by MELISSA ANASTASI
produced by CATHY FLANNERY
starring NICOLE NABOUT, TONY POLI, MILES SZANTO, REMY HII, JOSEF BER
SCREEN NSW & Metro Screen
SCREENINGS
Flickerfest, 2013
St Kilda Film Festival, 2013
Melbourne Queer Film Festival, 2013
Mardi Gras Film Festival, 2013
AWARDS
St Kilda Film Festival 2013
Nominated - Best Actor
Winner - Silver (Fictional Drama)
NSW/ACT Cinematography Awards
In making Treading Water, I set out to explore grief and how it manifests through sexuality and violence. The characters in the film are changed by their grief – they are at once liberated and devastated by it.
I wanted to explore how the body takes over what the conscious mind is unable to process – it is through physical acts that these characters are able to express their grief, and finally move closer together. The past ebbs and flows throughout the film like a beautiful, bittersweet reminder of what has been lost, the veil between the dead and the living seeming so fine, that one could almost reach out and touch it.
Melissa Anastasi