Tom Brown’s Stylish Queer Sea Adventure ‘Christopher At Sea’ Premieres Online
Opting for an adventure at sea without the chaos of a tourist-laden cruise, a young man embarks on a cargo ship crossing the Atlantic to experience its allure firsthand. Along the way, he encounters a diverse crew and unexpectedly finds both romance and a deeper understanding of himself.
Languidly paced and visually sumptuous, Christopher at Sea captivates with its moody, sensual aesthetic, featuring strikingly expressionist and surreal sequences that blur the boundaries between fantasy, dream, and reality. With a playful touch and subtle double entendres, the film explores the exhilaration of travel, masculinity, self-discovery, and an unexpected sexual awakening.
Brown recalls that, “Michael Fukushima [then an executive producer at the National Film Board of Canada] had shared a social media post about a residency on a cargo ship, and I became spellbound by the setting, where the raw beauty of the sea collides with the stark geometry of industry. And since you’re marooned with mostly men, it struck me as the perfect crucible for a queer awakening where desire, dislocation, and longing could unspool into something stranger, more personal. The film became something else entirely… and that, to me, is the quiet magic of making art.”
Brown is best known for his acclaimed short films, including t.o.m. (co-directed with Daniel Gray, 2007), Teeth (also co-directed with Gray, 2015), and the Hilton Dresden music video “Cousin John – The Arrival” (2019). His work has won dozens of awards at festivals worldwide, including Sundance, SXSW, Outfest, Ottawa, and Annecy.
Christopher at Sea (2022) was produced by Miyu Productions, Psyop, and Temple Carrington & Brown.
