PLUNGE

DOCUMENTARY SHORT / 8 MIN / ENGLISH

DIRECTOR: ELLIE LAND
PRODUCERS: REBECCA MARK-LAWSON & DARIA NITSCHE

Made with the support of the BFI's Filmmaking Fund

Katie Wotton’s incredible journey to regain control of her life through reconnecting to nature and the sea.

Synopsis

Plunge tells the story of Katie who found empowerment, friendship, and healing by plunging into frigid waters of the sea. As her voice relates to us the physical and mental struggles that have plagued her for decades, her animated form darts confidently through kelp forests on the ocean floor. She tells us about her strong community and the tremendous physical benefits of cold-water swimming. Through Katie’s story this beautiful, animated film addresses themes of isolation and connection, mental health and wellbeing, and climate change and empowerment.

Story

The film begins in live action as Katie walks towards the ocean. As she submerges the world becomes animated, with an animated version of Katie swimming before us.

She confidently guides us through the enigmatic waters as she begins to recount her water biography. Katie tells us about her physical afflictions (Fibromyalgia, Lipoedema, Osteoarthritis and severe hypermobility) and her weight which kept her housebound and forced her to walk with two sticks. She mentions life before she swam. She felt depressed, deregulated and alone.

She was about to opt into bariatric surgery, a move she felt was extreme, but necessary to gain some quality of life back. One day, her sisters convinced her to start sea swimming and to her surprise she couldn’t get enough of cold-water submersion. One year on she is losing weight, more confident, walking straighter and without her sticks. Health professionals are in awe of her achievements.

As Katie swims, she tells us her story and we venture deeper into unknown waters that reflect her emotional journey. Sometimes the sea is quiet, reflective and peaceful, sometimes she is tossed around in waves, whipped up by an incoming storm incorporating fantastical underwater elements to reflect the struggles she has faced.

The film ends with Katie swimming to the shore. Now, we are in a beautiful tussle between live action and animation, as she walks to shore animated water drips from her body. She meets fellow swimmers, they laugh and talk. Katies voice over tells us that as a single mum, she finds life lonely, but swimming has connected her with a community, in the water and also online. She campaigns for better access to open water for people with disabilities. Now that she has nourished herself, she can look outwards again, water has taught her how to reconnect with others and Katie has started living again.

Director’s Statement

This is the first time I have made a film whereby I can explicitly link the experience of the subject to my own experience and I am excited to use this common ground to expand the visual language that I use in animation narrative storytelling. I have insight into Katie’s experiences that may be hard to verbalise. My goal as a film maker is to gently expose and represent untold stories, I am mostly passionate about working with women. I incorporate feminist research methods, and collaborative practices into the documentary process.

I am developing my voice as a director to expand across VR, AR and linear narrative forms including feature documentaries.

I am excited to see how animated documentary can employ fantastical elements, moving into a hybrid documentary approach. I am enthusiastic about the film community that is part of the film making process and like to incorporate participatory and co design methods.

Team

Ellie Land: Director

Ellie Land is an internationally renowned, award-winning Animation Director and Researcher working in animation, whose practice has become increasingly collaborative and research-informed, most recently extending into immersive technologies. Her body of work investigates themes such as the failing systems supporting women’s health and well-being, placemaking and identity, and climate health through an ecofeminist lens, utilizing storytelling, person-centered narratives, and co-creation methods of production. She draws from and applies practices from animation, documentary, immersive 360 and VR, and illustration.
Her award-winning animated documentary films screen internationally at film festivals and exhibitions. Ellie is the long-term collaborator on MENOPAUSE REALITY, a series of VR films funded by Innovate UK and Digital Catapult.
Her current short BFI-funded animated documentary PLUNGE is produced by TYKE films and has its world premiere at Edinburgh Film Festival 2024. PLUNGE VR was selected for IDFA Forum 2022.
Her contributions to the feature film IRENE’S GHOST were nominated for a BIFA Award in 2018 and was cited as one of the best films of 2019 by The Guardian. BATHROOM PRIVILEGES, co-directed with Rupert Williams for the BFI, won the AHRC Research in Film (Animation) Award 2020.
Her current projects include GLACIES and Arts Council-funded ANTICIPATION OF BLISS, immersive site-specific installations made in collaboration with artist Lucy Wheeler.

Rebecca Mark-Lawson: Producer

Rebecca is a producer and founder of BFI Vision Award production company, Tyke Films. Her work in Film, TV, and VR explores storytelling that innovatively occupies the space between documentary and drama. Rebecca’s career spans productions with the likes of Penny Woolcock and Ken Loach, Development Executive for new talent at EM Media and Managing Executive at Lifesize Pictures. Rebecca continues to produce and executive produce multiple award-winning documentary and fiction films for Film4, Channel 4, BFI and BBC Films.

Her internationally acclaimed feature Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché played at over 50 festivals worldwide, was released in Europe, USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and won Best Documentary and Raindance Discovery Award at the BIFAs and Grand Prix at FAME Festival. Previous feature IRENE’S GHOST was listed in The Guardian’s “Best Films of 2019” and was nominated for the BIFA Raindance Discovery Award, with Rebecca nominated for Breakthrough Producer.

Daria Nitsche: Producer

Daria is a multi-award-winning, international Producer who started her career working on programmes for Germany’s leading broadcaster ZDF, as well as global TV and cinema commercials. She has worked on German, English, Italian, Spanish, American and Nigerian productions and joined BFI Vision Award winning company Tyke Films in 2019, where she produced BIFA winning and BAFTA Scotland nominated films, such as POLY STYRENE: I AM A CLICHÉ, featuring Oscar nominee Ruth Negga as the voice of Poly Styrene. It played at top tier festivals such as SXSW, Rotterdam, HotDocs and CPH:DOX, sold out multiple screenings in the US and was chosen as The New York Times Critics Pick. She is also a British Independent Film Awards voter and BAFTA Connect member.

Bio coming soon…

Alice is a film editor whose emphasis is to collaborate with producers and directors to tell stories with integrity and a delicate human touch. She studied at Surrey Institute of Art and Design (BA Film and Video and the National Film and Television School (MA Film editing). She has worked on projects with BFI, BBC, Netflix, Amazon, HBO and screened work at Sheffield doc fest, Tribeca, Hotdocs, South by Southwest, London film festival & Berlin Film festival. Collaborations with directors include Jeanie Finlay, Orlando von Einsiedel, Nelly Ben Hayoun and Gillian Wearing. Awards include Best International Feature at Hot Docs and Best UK film at Open City Documentary Film Festival for ‘The Closer We Get’.

David is a BAFTA and RTS award-winning editor who has been working for over 15 years in drama and creative documentary. His drama credits include Outlander (Sony), Guilt (BBC), Control Room (BBC), Winners (Oscarssubmission for UK best foreign film at and winner at Raindance and EIFF), Run (premiered at Tribeca), horror film Malevolent (Netflix), musical God Help the Girl (Sundance winner), and historical epic Outlaw King (Netflix). David edited and co-wrote the hybrid feature documentaries Irene’s Ghost (winner of Aesthetica and RTS awards) and Where You're Meant to Be (winner of Grierson, and Chicago IFF). He has been nominated 4 times for the RTS Professional Excellence: Editing Award, which he won for Sighthill (BBC). David has also been invited to join the BIFA Springboard filmmakers community, Screencraft Works as a mentor and Bafta as a jury member.

Marina is a composer for film and television and trained at Tahe National Film and Television School. To date, Marina has composed original soundtracks for Poly Styrene: I AM A CLICHE (Sky Arts/ Modern Films), Sudden Death: My Sister's Silent Killer (BBC), Such Small Hands (Film4), and feature film ZERO (BBC Films/ BFI Films). Further projects include Royal Television Society Award winning documentaries, and internationally acclaimed animations and shorts. She has composed commercially for the likes of Vodafone, Rimmel, Cadburys, and Tesco. Marina is a grant recipient of PRS WOMEN MAKE MUSIC and a MUSICIAN'S UNION SCHOLAR (NFTS). She has won BEST COMPOSER at the GLOBAL MUSIC AWARDS, BEST POST GRADUATE SOUND at the ROYAL TELEVISION SOCIETY AWARDS (MIA) and BEST POST GRADUATE DOCUMENTARY at the ROYAL TELEVISION SOCIETY AWARDS, with nominations for BEST COMPOSER at UNDERWIRE FILM FESTIVAL 2021.

Raoul is an award-winning sound designer and re-recording mixer working across documentaries, indie features and TV. Following a Masters in Sound Design at the National Film & Television School, Raoul has worked on many highly acclaimed feature documentaries, such as the multi award winning films Poly Styrene: I am A Cliché, Almost Heaven and Irene’s Ghost. In 2022 he mixed the breakout comedy Rye Lane and Peter Strickland’s Flux Gourmet which was awarded with a BIFA for best sound. As a TV sound editor, he most recently worked on BBC dramas Sherwood, Happy Valley and the ITVX show Nolly.

Hannah is an Animator, Filmmaker and University Lecturer, with an MA from the Royal College Of Art. Since graduating, she has worked commercially, on commissions and on short film projects. Her work has screened at festivals and exhibitions worldwide including Pictoplasma, Ann Arbor Film Festival and London International Animation Festival. She has been Lecturing in animation for the past three years, currently as associate lecturer at University of the Arts, London. Hannah has been a contributing writer for Edge of Frame Experimental Animation Blog and have curated screening programmes and radio shows for the Rhythm and Frames Collective.

Mariana is an animator with an unresting curiosity in finding creative ways of telling narratives. Her work is based on a lot of collaboration and learning from others and their creative backgrounds. She trained at University of the Arts London and King’s College London. To date, her work includes animation on the documentary “Dunk? Adventures in 16th century Brewing” directed by Shreepali Patel, direction and animation of Garden for the “If Homes Had Ears” collection by the British Library, and animation on the BFI funded short film “Chado” by Dominica Harrison.

Inez Skilling is an Animator + Illustrator based in East Sussex. She studied Animation at the University Of The West Of England, graduating in 2019. She specialises in 2D Animation and vintage-style Illustration.

Suzi is a DOP/Shooting Producer/Director, specialising in Documentary, Factual Entertainment and News coverage. She has an MA in TV and Film Production and twenty years plus experience as a DOP and Self Shooting Producer/Director. Suzi has delivered contracts to a number of Broadcasters and Production Companies such as Netflix, E4, Sky Arts, BFI, News UK, Talk TV, Sky News Australia, Fox TV, Fulwell 73 and Barcroft Studios, specialising in genres such as Factual Entertainment, Documentary, News, Current Affairs, Magazine TV and Short Films.

Susan is a Sound Designer and Recordist, helping Directors, filmmakers and creatives to realise their sonic ideas through field recording, sound design and mixing. She trained at Northern Media School (MA in Screen Arts) from 2001 to 2003. She has worked with British directors such as Shane Meadows and Debbie Isitt and is currently Supervising Sound Editor at Spool (Audio Post Production Facility).

Carl is an animator whose creative practice entails storytelling and communication in an interesting, imaginative and clear way. Having trained at Leeds Polytechnic, Carl’s work includes: Associate Lecturer at Derby University, storyboard artist for Channel 4, Ridley Scott & Associates, Sky, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and more, comic artist on Sonic the Hedgehog, Red Dwarf, and Deadline, editorial illustrator for NME, Radio Times, Readers Digest, Time Out, Marxism Today and others, and children’s book illustrator for MacMillan and Olika Förlag (Sweden), currently working on the tenth book in the series Barnen i Lyckeskolan (The Children of Happy School).

Ed is a cinematographer, storyboard artist and animator. He currently teaches MA cinematography at Met Film School, while juggling freelance work. In 2022, he won Best Cinematography at The Impact 2022.

James, who heads ‘Infamous Pictures’, has produced critically acclaimed documentaries and feature films, including multiple award winner ‘Jago, a life underwater’, the director of which went on to win both the Bafta and Oscar for his next film, ‘My Octopus Teacher’. As a working cinematographer, he has more than 20 years’ experience, most recently on C4’s ‘Chivalry’ with Steve Coogan. He was longlisted for a BAFTA for his work on Natural History film ‘Invertebrate’.

Frankie is an animation student at Newcastle University and has one year left until she graduates. Clean up and colour, on PLUNGE, is her first experience of animation in the industry. She has learnt a lot about animation from her university course and has carried a lot of techniques and practices from her A levels in Fine Art, photography and 3D design.