Last Days at Sea

Reyboy's world is the sparkling ocean, the hidden treasures on the long coast, the taste of honey rice. The filmmaker accompanies the Filipino boy in his fishing village by the sea as his life is about to change forever. A profound dialogue in thoughts and images about the beauty of the little things and saying goodbye.

"12-year-old Reyboy lives in Karihatag, an isolated fishing village where people share their catch to each other and have managed to build a safe home for fish. Here, every boy grows up to become a fisher. However, at the end of the summer, when the first raindrop falls, Reyboy has to leave to study in the city. This film is a record of his last summer at home which I spent with him. It is an attempt to freeze time, to hold the fleeting moments of childhood before it turns into memory.
Nothing really happens at the surface. We spend days watching the clouds change shape, and nights looking up at the stars imagining life in the planet Saturn. But slowly, we begin to see the cracks in Reyboy’s paradise. His Uncles reveal that life in the sea becomes more dangerous every year. As Reyboy says goodbye to his home, we recognise change in stillness. Through the patient encounter between I and Reyboy, we see how the inevitable process of growing up can be faced with both courage and tenderness."
(Berlinale)