Award Winning Independent Cinema

This film double bill, coming to Plymouth Arts Cinema on Thursday 19th June features people being dunked in the Nile, and the sea off Plymouth Sound.

Up first, Until the Sea is about a Plymouth-based charity working with asylum seekers. Reclaim the Sea helps individuals with water-based therapeutic activities. Tigs, one of the workers says, ‘Refugees are brave and resilient.’ 

Of course they are. This film is a welcome corrective to the dark politics surrounding migration currently. Plymouth is a so-called Home Office dispersal city for migrants entering the UK. Reclaim the Sea provides activities like sea swimming, supping, mindfulness, and shared lunches to combat the trauma that often comes along with refugee status. 

The film features Olga, a Ukrainian who used to enjoy everything that you may currently: a place to live, a job, belongings and a circle of friends. The camera pans to three wheelie cases. That’s all she’s got left. She tells us the sea is her friend, and says goodnight to it everyday. 

Plymouth looks gorgeous in this 35 minute short documentary, and you will feel your heart warmed by the work of this charity, a new found empathy with our migrant population, and may also even feel enticed to say goodnight to the sea yourself. 

“Every time people see me, they seem to feel sorry for me,” says albino teenager Daye in this wonderfully quirky, modern Egyptian ugly ducking/rags to riches/road trip film The Tale of Daye’s Family, from director Karim El Shenaway.

The Tale of Daye’s Family is showing as part of The SAFAR Film Festival, the UK’s largest celebration of Arab Cinema, which runs from 11 to 28 June 2025 across 10 cities and online in its milestone tenth edition. It showcases award-winning premieres, feature films, documentaries and classics, accompanied by filmmaker Q&As, masterclasses and community events that celebrate the diversity of Arab cinema.

Daye (Badr Mohammead) has albinism, which is a problem in the world he grows up in. He is bullied in school, burnt by the sun, and constrained at home by his anxious mother Zainab (Islam Mubarak). Other children in Egypt, when they lose their milk teeth, throw them at the sun. Not so Daye, who has to throw them in the bin. His mother, at first, wants to clip his wings: ‘A shut mouth catches no flies’ she says, an elaborate way of telling him to shut up.

But then: a break. His trusted music teacher, Sabreen (Aseel Omran), puts him forward for the Egyptian version of The Voice, and he wins a place. It’s a talent show that you can demonstrate your gifts before anyone sees your face, perfect for an outcast like Daye. The trouble is they live in Aswan, 1000km from the capital, and his mother doesn’t want him to go.

The rest of the film follows the ups and down of their journey across Egypt – mother, son, sister and teacher. It’s less Fellowship of the Ring, and more Fellowship of the Sing. You’ll smile at how often Daye’s singing voice gets them out of a fix. Modern Egypt is portrayed as colourful and friendly, but also treacherous. We see trains, cars, and barges, and one of the characters takes an unplanned dunk in the Nile. 

Go and see this film if you want an uplifting experience, a fresh, positive view of an African country, and love to root for the underdog. I enjoyed the quirky, unconventional storytelling, and views of Egypt beyond the Pyramids of Giza. Refreshing.

Until the Sea and The Tale of Daye’s Family are screening on Thursday 19th June.

By James Banyard