The race to the Oscars is on. Big budget biopics and art pictures directed by respected names will dominate the ballot, with independent breakouts far and few in-between. The visibility of these indie rarities typically grows via word of mouth after limited release (unless the Weinstein Company grabs it), something much easier today thanks to the tweets and “Likes” of social media. Aside from generating positive feedback after screening at top film festivals, it is especially difficult for short films to generate enough buzz in time to make the Oscar’s ten-picture list of finalists for the “Best Live Action Short” category, which will be unveiled later this month. The Sea Is All I Know, directed by talented newcomer Jordan Bayne, is among this year’s group of seventy qualifying short films. Bayne wrote, directed, and produced this rare gem of a film, and even though it only screened at a handful of mid-level festivals, the film does have one big advantage that sets it apart: it stars Oscar winner Melissa Leo.
Blue hues engulf The Sea Is All I Know, which features accurate portraits of maritime life juxtaposed with the heart-wrenching story of a Christian couple, Sara (Melissa Leo) and Sonny (Peter Gerety), bound together by their unfathomable grief for their terminally ill daughter. Angelina (Kelly Hutchinson) writhes in pain as her parents helplessly look on, making many of the scenes so emotionally wrenching that they are difficult to watch. Bayne interrupts intersperses these scenes with breathtaking imagery of bay trap fishing, all the while haunting her audience with a folk song she co-wrote, “Brown Eyed Child” (sung by Sonny at his daughter’s bedside).