1h 24m
Super 16mm to 4K
a film by HUW WAHL
in collaboration with ROSE RAVETZ
sound mix by SIMON CONNOR
UK/Netherlands/France, 2024
Exhibition: Digital 4K, Colour, Stereo, 1.66:1
Audio language: English
Subtitles language: English
Synopsis
Wind, Tide & Oar is a compelling exploration of engineless sailing, shot on analogue film over three years. The film delves into the experiences of those who travel solely by harnessing the natural elements alone, following a diverse array of traditional boats and uncovering the unique rhythms and motivations of engineless navigation.
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Journeying through rivers, coastlines, and open seas, spanning the UK, the Netherlands, and France, Wind, Tide & Oar creates a contemplative space, addressing themes of ecology, heritage, traditional skills, and maritime history. Using a 1960s hand-wound camera, Wahl offers a poetic and intimate perspective on a millennia-old craft, upended by the invention of mechanised power.
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Through the film’s reveries, sailing becomes a means to explore our interaction with and responsibility to the environment. It invites deep reflection on our relationship with nature, our understanding of and commitment to sustainability, and our care for the world around us.
"A remarkable film"
- Hannah Cunliffe,
National Historic Ships
"Beautifully and sensitively shot. An evocative exploration of engineless sailing not to be missed!"
- Practical Boat Owner Magazine
"Visually stunning"
- ITV Anglia
"What a timely, timeless film Wind, Tide and Oar is. Like all Wahl's work, it's about breathing, freedom, being in the world. A gorgeously shot tone poem, it reveals life on the water, under shifting skies, as tactile, dream-like, improvisational. Here are old rhythms that feel thrillingly new. Imagination and intoxication. An antidote to skew-whiff modern life."
- Sukhdev Sandhu
Writer, radio maker, film critic and curator
"Wind, Tide & Oar is a wonderful, captivating film... It portrays beautifully the peace and enchantment of engineless sailing, a valuable respite from the frenetic combustion of the mechanised world, and a reminder of something more important."
- Leo Sampson Goolden,
Sampson Boat Co