Made and directed by Belgian filmmaker Naomi Zwaenepoel, and starring staff and students from Withernsea High School, ‘The Sea, The Sea’ incorporates striking images of the crumbling coastline, alongside personal stories from those affected, to highlight the natural processes that are combining to accelerate erosion.

Last Thursday, October 17, the film received its British premiere in front of the students and community members who had contributed to its creation. This was preceded by its world premiere at the 51^st Film Fest Ghent in Belgium where it was nominated for a short film award in the Competition for Belgian Student Shorts category – an exclusive grouping for students from accredited film schools in Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels.

Representing Withernsea High School at the international premiere was Head of Humanities, Sarah Harris-Smith, who had journeyed out to Belgium to accompany Naomi Zwaenepoel on the red carpet. Although ultimately losing out on an award, the film garnered widespread attention from those in attendance.   

Reflecting on the experience, Sarah, who also has a starring role in the film, said: “Walking the red carpet in Ghent was amazing and it was a pleasure to accompany Naomi at the world premiere. Afterwards, countless people came up to me who just wanted to talk about Withernsea and our eroding coastline. They were really fascinated by the landscape and captivated by the film which they said showed a real love for the area from those involved and captured a love for the school and the community from the students. It was very special.”    

“The students themselves have a very prominent role in the film, being seen both at school and at play on their coastline. I was deeply impressed by the way they spoke about what they have learned in geography and their own experiences of the coast. I think we can often take for granted how much they do actually know about the coastal processes and impacts of erosion – it’s just part of their daily lives. They came across really well, demonstrating that they can talk naturally and confidently about their experiences. I am very proud of them.” 

For the film’s creator, the premiere was the culmination of months of research, planning and hard work - with the finished film being the final component of her master’s degree at the LUCA School of Arts in Brussels. “It was a school project, so it was definitely very stressful to make because you know you will get judged by it”, said Naomi. “It took just over a year and involved lots of research; visiting Withernsea to film and getting to know Sarah and the students, and then editing everything together. It was a very long but beautiful process and I am very happy with the finished film.

“I was very nervous for the premiere in Ghent, but it was so much fun with Sarah there. The judges were really intrigued and moved by the storylines involved and the responses from people interested in the film asking ‘who are these kids?’, ‘what kinds of lessons do they get and what are their experiences?’ opened up conversations about what this place in England is and that was really wonderful.”

The film follows year 8 and 9 geography students to the beach where they learn first-hand about clay cliffs, sea defences and longshore drift. It also visits the clifftop farm of one student to capture daily life on the edge of land that is gradually being lost to the sea.

Elsewhere, the film documents the changing landscape of the area by following a woman who is looking for a piece of land owned by her great-grandmother in Tunstall, accompanied by a narration of her relative’s diary entries from 1964 which describe the surroundings of her time.

After making a film last year based on her own experiences of growing up on the coast in Belgium, Naomi was prompted to visit England to make a second one.

“I grew up at the coast and I’ve always been drawn to coastal communities. My father works for a dredging company, and to see how land moves and develops really interested me. I started reading about erosion and saw different places in the world that were struggling with the effects of it. The east coast of England really stood out and I was intrigued to meet the people here. I came here and fell in love with it. Seeing the Withernsea coast really inspired me. How places evolve, studying the history of them and looking at their futures; the temporariness of things - never staying the same as they move and change was the main message I wanted to capture in the film.”

After her initial visit to the area, Naomi contacted Sarah Harris-Smith with a view of collaborating with Withernsea High School on the project. Explaining the process that followed, Sarah said: “Naomi got in touch after watching ‘Insecure’, a film that we created in partnership with the University of Hull, that used the voices of our students to highlight the impact of coastal erosion in our area. We quickly arranged a series of online meetings and were delighted to welcome Naomi to the school in February this year where she met the students and began collecting stories for the project.

“Her visit sparked a lot of interest, not only from our students but also from members of the wider community who had volunteered their time and input to help – resulting in people sharing their own stories about their relationship with the sea. From that moment, I knew this project was going to be something special as there was so much interest and involvement from people both in and out of school.”

Naomi added: “For me it was really wonderful meeting Sarah and the students for the first time. For a school to be so open to what I was trying to do was amazing. I felt very welcome – it was almost like being part of a small family. We did a workshop where the children shared pictures, family stories and talked about what Withernsea means to them. It was a really interesting way to work together and it really helped me to prepare for the filming. All the students responded well and it was clear how much they appreciate where they live.”

With her research complete, Naomi returned to Withernsea in April - this time with a small film crew accompanying her. During their visit, the crew were joined by Sarah and the students for filming in various locations including Tunstall, Easington, Withernsea and at the school itself.

“The week we came to film was amazing. The weather was lovely and we had a wonderful time on a fieldtrip with the students. I am so jealous of the students here, for the kind of lessons they get and the opportunities that are created for them out in the open in a very practical way – it was just amazing to see. I learned a lot myself on the fieldtrip, especially from the experiments that were conducted to show how the tide flows.” 

After spending four days filming in Holderness, Naomi and her team returned to Belgium where she began the process of editing the film and completing her degree. Maaike Neuville, a well-known Belgian actress, was recruited to act as the film’s narrator – a casting that impressed the audience at Ghent and was secured after Naomi emailed her about the project. By chance, Maaike, herself a director, was researching the coastline of Scotland for work on a similar project of her own and was only too happy to be involved.

Following the film’s international release, work began on organising a local premiere – with Sarah and Naomi both keen to include the families and friends of the students involved in the project, plus members of the community who had also contributed.

Inspired by her experience in Ghent, Sarah worked with the students to organise their own red carpet event. Around 60 people attended the subsequent premiere, including members of the school’s senior leadership team and governing body, who joined community guests to watch the film for the first time.

Reflecting on the success of the evening and the response received, Sarah said: “The Ghent premiere was amazing, but the community premiere was really very special and quite emotional. I’m beyond proud of our students and I think they have grown in confidence and grown as people as a result of their involvement in this project. This was echoed by some of the parents/carers I spoke to who couldn’t believe what the students had achieved. The students took control of the event, standing up and asking questions as part of a Q&A session and leading the discussion afterwards. They were an absolute credit to themselves and to the school.”

Meanwhile, Naomi, who had travelled to join the students at the premiere, added: “I was more nervous to show the film here in Withernsea. I was thinking ‘how are the students going to react?’ because, when you’re growing up, it’s still something very special to see yourself on a big screen. I was also nervous to share it with the parents and everyone else who had been invited.

“I was very emotional. Seeing all the wonderful people I’ve met in this very short period of time was so lovely and a bit strange. I’m just a girl from Belgium with an interest in erosion! It was amazing how I was welcomed and how well the film was received. It was really nice to share it in the community where it was filmed and I really felt like the students were rooting for each other and thinking: ‘Yes! We did this together!’.”

Student Charles Graham, whose family’s farm featured prominently in the film, said: “It was really good to see how all the hard work paid off. I was a bit nervous watching the film because I didn’t know what it was going to be like – especially when you haven’t seen it already and you’re watching it in front of loads of people, but it was really good. It was rather unusual having the film crew at the farm – it’s a workplace and you just usually get on with the work there, so to have a film crew making a film there was different but good.”

Fellow student Macauley Kitcher added: “I was surprised and pleased to see how the film turned out. It was really entertaining to watch and everybody played a good part in it. My friends and family found it amazing that students helped to make a film together and that someone from Belgium came all the way to meet us. Having the film shown abroad might mean that we get more people coming to visit our area.”  

Among those in attendance at the premiere were Withernsea-based folk band, Morning Dew, who had been invited to perform two Holderness coast-inspired songs at the event. After moving to Kilnsea in 1996, band member and songwriter, Andrew Wells, began taking inspiration from his surroundings for his songwriting. Reflecting on this inspiration, Andrew said: “Soon after arriving, I became fascinated with the area. Although I had written a few songs before moving there, I wrote a lot more in those first few years down at Kilnsea – mainly about the area and the people I met along the way.”

“It was a great pleasure and a privilege to be at the British premiere of ‘The Sea, The Sea’. We are inclined to forget what an unusual little corner of England we live in, and almost take for granted the ways that it differs from practically anywhere else in the British Isles. This delightful film was a timely reminder of what a special place our part of the Holderness coast is, and having a film maker from mainland Europe with a different perspective of our area, produced an ‘outsider’s’ positive view of the quirkiness of South Holderness. I think I may have once seen the area as Naomi did - an outsider who has stumbled on somewhere very special indeed.

“It was very obvious that the students were willing participants in the filmmaking process - from a scene with the tide rolling oranges on the beach, to them jumping around on the rock armour. The concluding scene, with Charlie feeding his sheep and then turning them out on the cliff top field, was both amusing and thought-provoking.

“I think the experience of being involved in the filmmaking process, and speaking at the premiere, will benefit the students greatly in the future. It is a valuable talent to be able to speak in public with confidence and clarity, which they did.”

Mark Crofts, Headteacher of Withernsea High School, said: “It was an incredible evening and all who were there were clearly enthralled by what they saw. It was not only a fantastic example of the creativity of the young people involved, but also the strength of partnership working, led by a very enthusiastic member of staff, who has got a vision for what education in this area can be – engaging students practically with opportunities to broaden their horizons. 

“I thought the film itself was beautiful, very moving and wonderfully and carefully crafted. Our students fitted into it perfectly and they should be really proud. It tells an incredible story in a way in which I don’t think has been captured before. Seeing those young people at the beginning of their lives, in this landscape and carving something out for themselves, was quite remarkable. It’s a really impressive piece of work.

“I personally took a massive amount away from it. I found it deeply affecting because I love the sea and spend a lot of time on the beach. The film captured the humanity as well as the geography and the ongoing movement of time – you could feel the weight of geological time while watching it.

“Parents shared with me how engaged their children had been in the project and how impressed they were with the finished result. Naomi, the film’s creator, was startled by just how creative teaching is in the UK and it was not at all what she expected.

“I would like to thank Naomi and Sarah, and of course all the students and their families, who contributed to making this film. It perfectly demonstrates the potential that we have here in this community, and the potential that exists in every small community, to act locally and think globally with ambition.”

STILLS FROM THE FILM---

ABOVE: The majority of filming took place in April 2024, with students taking part in a fieldtrip to the beach to explore coastal processes. 

ABOVE: The students were also filmed in the classroom during a geography lesson. 

ABOVE: While on the beach, students conducted experiments using oranges to help understand how the tide works. 

ABOVE: Year 9 student Charles Graham was featured prominently in the film. He is pictured working on a farm, tending to livestock. 

ABOVE: The proximity of the farm to the edge of the eroding cliffs – a striking image from the finished film.

ABOVE: Students are seen analysing items recovered from the beach. 

ABOVE: The film's director, Naomi, was impressed by the outdoor learning opportunities afforded to students. 

ABOVE: Head of Humanities, Sarah Harris-Smith, was featured throughout the film explaining coastal processes to students. 

Above: Belgian actress, Maaike Neuville, starred in the film and also provided its narration. 

FILMING (FEBRUARY/APRIL 2024) ---

ABOVE: The period of filming was blessed with good weather. 

ABOVE: (left to right) Head of Humanities Sarah Harris-Smith with sound technician Achiel Van den Abeele, Cameraman Quinten Wyns, Belgian actress Maaike Neuville who starred in and narrated the film, director Naomi Zwaenepoel and WHS faculty volunteer Abigail Wilbraham.

ABOVE: Some of the students involved in the project with (left) faculty volunteer Abigail Wilbraham, (front left) the film’s creator Naomi Zwaenepoel, (front right) cameraman Quinten Wyns, (back right) sound technician Achiel Van den Abeele and Head of Humanities, Sarah Harris-Smith.

ABOVE: The students were given time to explore the beach. 

ABOVE: Filming took place on both Withernsea seafront and on the beach. 

ABOVE: The soft clay cliffs, synonymous with the Holderness coast, featured prominently in the finished film. 

ABOVE: Naomi Zwaenepoel and Sarah Harris-Smith initially met online before collaborating in-person at the school. 

ABOVE: Sarah Harris-Smith drove the film crew around the area, visiting Tunstall and Easington along the way. 

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE AT THE GHENT FILM FESTIVAL ---

ABOVE: (left to right) Cameraman Quinten Wyns, Head of Humanities Sarah Harris-Smith, the film’s director Naomi Zwaenepoel and sound technician Achiel Van den Abeele on the red carpet at Film Fest Ghent for the film’s international premiere.

ABOVE: Sarah Harris-Smith and Naomi Zwaenepoel on the red carpet. 

ABOVE: The students involved were thrilled that their film had been seen internationally. They signed a copy of the festival's programme in celebration. 

UK PREMIERE AT WITHERNSEA HIGH SCHOOL ---

ABOVE: A second 'UK Premiere' was held at the school on Thursday, 17th October. 

ABOVE: Student Macauley Kitcher, accompanied by Naomi and Sarah, welcomed the audience to the premiere. 

ABOVE: Headteacher Mark Crofts thanks the audience for attending and praises the film. 

ABOVE: Mark Crofts congratulates students for their starring role in the film during its British premiere at the school.

ABOVE: Folk band, Morning Dew, performed two Holderness coast-inspired songs at the premiere. Left to right are band members Rachel Beastall, Paul MacGilvray, Gordon Beastall, Andrew Wells and Eric Godfrey. 

ABOVE AND BELOW: Some of the students involved in making the film.