TWO CHILDREN SPEND AN EVENTFUL SUMMER
IN A BEACH HOUSE IN ALEXANDRE ROCKWELL’S
“STUNNINGLY RENDERED” ODE TO CHILDHOOD
THE BERLINALE CRYSTAL BEAR WINNERAND THE FOLLOW-UP TO LITTLE FEETPREMIERES JUNE 18, 2021
SYNOPSIS
Two children in contemporary New Bedford, Massachusetts spend an eventful summer in a beach house with their mother and her boyfriend in SWEET THING, director Alexandre Rockwell’s poetic, uplifting rendering of childhood which captured the Berlinale Crystal Bear in the Generation K-plus section in 2020.
In SWEET THING, Billie (Lana Rockwell, Little Feet), a 15-year-old girl who fantasizes Billie Holiday as a sort of fairy godmother, is forced to navigate the evolving challenges of her life while she plays mother to her 11-year-old brother, Nico (Nico Rockwell, Little Feet). They soon meet up with another adolescent, run away from home, and together roam the area free from their parents’ watchful gaze. Discovering freedom and enchantment among New Bedford’s boats and railway tracks, the trio fantasize about a life of luxury when they break into a posh home, and are able to carry the taste of affluence into their adventures. An ode to that trying age when young people prepare to take their first step into adulthood, SWEET THING, starring Rockwell’s children Lana and Nico, Karyn Parsons and Will Patton, is an intense but ultimately uplifting, portrait that captures the essence of that time in life when a day can last forever.
SWEET THING (2020)
Written and Directed by: Alexandre Rockwell
Cast: Lana Rockwell, Nico Rockwell, Karyn Parsons, Will Patton, Jabari Watkins, ML Josepher, Steven Randazzo
Edited by: Alan Wu
Cinematographer: Lasse Tolbøll
Produced by: Louis Anania, Haley Anderson, Kenan Baysal, R.D. Dobson
Associate Producers: Jon Boles, Michael Barnstijn, Helen Kim Bordes, Omar Figueroa, Nick Ford, Therese Goulet, Javin House, Anita Insanalli, Hunter Starr
Executive Producers: Sam Rockwell, Jennifer Beals, Hedy Groth Putegnat, Elaine Walsh, Michael R. Ragan, Will Patton, Ian Stirling
