Open Water

In a South East London tavern, two young individuals get together. Both are Black British, both won scholarships to private schools where they struggled to belong, both are now artists - he a photographer, she a dancer - trying to make their mark in a city that by turns celebrates and rejects them. They fall in love tentatively and lovingly. However, fear and violence have the power to rip apart even those who seem to be meant to be.

Open Water explores what it means to be a human in a world that only views you as a Black body, to be vulnerable when you are only appreciated for strength, and to find safety in love only to lose it. It is both an achingly beautiful love tale and a profound look into race and masculinity. Caleb Azumah Nelson has created the most important British debut of the last several years with a stunning, emotional passion.