Rory Kinnear (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, James Bond franchise) and Maria Bakalova (The Apprentice, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm) star in director Rebekah Fortune’s Learning to Breathe Under Water, written by Richard Brabin. But the real star is young Ezra Carlisle (Dalgliesh), who plays the eight-year-old Leo in the film, which world premieres on Tuesday, July 7 in the Special Screenings program of the 60th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF).
With his mother gone for five years for, initially, unclear reasons, Leo’s best friend is a massive shark that his artist father (Kinnear) built into the roof of their home. Leo confides in the shark to process a confusing world until the spirited and bubbly au pair Anya (Bakalova) bursts into their lives. Her never-ending questions shatter the silence, and her answers are really straightforward and honest. Her boundless energy and warmth bring color to their lives and challenges the male duo to step out of their comfort zone, which is mostly in their heads.
The KVIFF website, unsurprisingly, promises audiences an “enchanting film for parents and children about how to talk together and how to grieve together, about how the world of adults is sometimes hard to understand, and how children’s opinions really should be taken seriously. And, above all, it’s about learning how to breathe again.”
