Points of Sail

Shot on Sony FX6

When professional competitive sailor Birdie returns to the sailing camp she attended as a pre-teen, she’s greeted with her best friend Theo, screaming twelve-year-old, and traumatic memories of her ex-best friend, Hannah. As Birdie walks through the campsite reminiscing, she’s met with Luke, the lead instructor at camp. For a moment, Birdie feels at peace in Luke’s presence, despite the uneasiness she seems to have presence, despite the uneasiness she seems to have about the camp that seems to be stuck in time. Birdie is ready to leave the past behind and be a sailing instructor, but when Hannah walks through the door as an instructor on the same camp, Birdie’s memories come rushing back. Through a series of layered flashbacks, the present begins to reflect Birdie’s past and she quickly realises that 13-year-old camper Sophie is being bullied by mirror images from her past. Birdie’s memories show the unraveling friendship between Birdie and Hannah during their time at the same camp, twelve years ago. On a Coorong sailing expedition, Birdie senses that things are getting worse for Sophie. She’s being bullied by two girls, and Birdie knows this feeling all too well. At the Coorong, Sophie seizes her chance to escape the bullies and runs to the ocean. In a climactic series of flashbacks and present day scenes, we watch Birdie’s traumatic past unfold. Like Sophie, she was bullied at camp and left to fend for herself. Hannah did nothing to stop the bullies, and lost her best friend by trying to fit in. The parallelism between Birdie’s past and the present show history repeating itself- except this time, Hannah saves Sophie, and shows that she is willing to heal her friendship with Birdie. As Hannah’s redemption arc mirrors her transgressions in the past, the two are left standing on the beach, ready to heal their fractured past.