top of page
the sea cover
Genre: Dance, Art                 
Running Time: 64 minutes        
Format: Video, BW, DCP    
Country of Production: Sweden       Language: Swedish        
Subtitles: English        
Completion Date: 2025            
Directed By: Douglas Rosenberg             Produced By: Andreas Nordblom   Production Company: Hjärta Nikki 
SYNOPSIS: The Sea is a black-and-white feature film directed by Douglas Rosenberg, filmed entirely on location along the Baltic Sea. Drawing inspiration from the evocative landscapes of Ingmar Bergman’s Fårö Island, the film explores aging and the intimate relationships between men in their later years. Featuring a cast of predominantly untrained performers from the Fårö area, The Sea reflects on camaraderie and the ways life’s experiences leave their marks on our bodies, expressed through movement and the passage of time.

The Sea
A film by
Douglas Rosenberg

A poetic exploration of aging, intimacy and camaraderie, 

set against the evocative backdrop of the Baltic Sea

 

COMING TO FESTIVALS IN 2025

Douglas Rosenberg’s (b.1956) work in video and video installation has been shown both in the United States and internationally in museums, galleries, on public television and in festivals around the world.

 

Douglas Rosenberg has received numerous grants and awards including, an NEA Dance/Film/Video grant, (with choreographer June Watanabe), an NEA/Southeast Media Fellowship, two Zellerbach Foundation grants, a Painted Bride Art Center New Forms Grant, (co-recipient with Li Chiao-Ping), a Wisconsin Arts Board Fellowship, an IZZIE award for his work with Ellen Bromberg and John Henry on “Singing Myself A Lullaby” and a Fellowship from The Project on Death in America for another project with Ms. Bromberg. 

 

Recent shows include, Dance on Camera Festival, New York, Video Festival Riccionne Teatro Televisione, Riccione, Italy, The Contemporary Art Museum in Buenos Aires, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, NY, Mostra de Vídeo Dansa de Barcelona, Spain. He was the Director of the American Dance Festival’s video archival program for over a decade and continues to direct ADF’s Dancing for the Camera Festival.

Douglas Rosenberg

DIRECTORS NOTES: “The topic of male intimacy and intimacy in general has been a focus in my work for a number of years. Most recently it manifested in a series of projects focused on interactions between men, through movement, performance, dialog, writing and other means of examining male intimacy and the way in which such relationships disembody or dematerialize over time. 

 

I was thinking about cultures in which male intimacy is normative; a kind of gender specific bonding that often takes the form of wrestling or rough-housing.  Such intimacy is seen in sports and in younger boys, and often returns late in life after men are once again freed of social constraints regarding intimate behavior such as public touching and a softening of aggressive tendencies. The “third age” of men, coming as it does after their work-life is over, is sometimes accompanied by a kind of existential sense of aloneness that begins to inhabit the life-force of aging men.

 

This is timely work for me as an artist in the later stages of a life-long and rigorous exploration of performance art and its various manifestations. The Sea, is about both finding and creating a particular kind of temporary community for the sake of creating a poetic and empathetic work of art. 

 

Using movement and the landscape as an emotional palette, this film is particularly

inspired by films that Bergman made in the landscape of Fårö.”

dancing2
dancing3
dancing
THE SEA FILMPOSTER.jpg
CREDITS:
 

THE SEA

A FILM BY DOUGLAS ROSENBERG

 

Cast:

Jarck Benschop 

David Dorfman 

Rolf Engström 

Lars Eskilsson

Bengt Hesselberg 

Henrik Krogh

Mikael Larsson

Olof Nellgård

Lars Osterman

Lasse Pettersson 

Douglas Rosenberg

Lasse Siggelin

Björn Thudén 

Benno Voorham

Paul Wu
 

Producer: Andreas Nordblom 

Director: Douglas Rosenberg 

Director of photography: Paul Wu 

Sound engineer: Björn van Weiden 

 

Choreography: 

Benno Voorham 

David Dorfman

Douglas Rosenberg

And

The Performers

Sound mixing: Björn van Weiden

Editor: Paul Wu

Grade: Jessica Lindgren-Wu

Production Coordinator: Elsa Nilsson 

Runner: Viktor Klintbom

Craft: Yu-Syuan Tsai

Still Photographer: Jessica Lindgren-Wu

Storyboard artist: Kate Forer 

Production company: Hjärta Nikki

The Sea/Havet was written by Douglas Rosenberg,

translated by Karin Brygger and performed by Björn Thudén

Uti vår hage performed by Björn Thudén

Original music created by:

David Dorfman, Accordion

Mikael Larsson, Bagpipe 

Additional music:

”Veil”

Composed by Philip Jeck 

“Heimkehr”

Composed by Harald Weiss and performed by the Nornoss Quartet

Used with permission

The director wishes to thank:

Paul Wu, Andreas Nordblom, Benno Voorham, David Dorfman

 

 Thanks to:

Film på Gotland

Tor Karlsson

Inger Söderdahl

Marcus Grufstedt

Richard Mattson

Lasse Weinebrandt

Lotta Bogren & Kafé Smultronstället

Jamie and Jennie Rae & Kajp Catering

Cristina Bernhardsson Ribeiro & Bergmancenter Fårö

 

This film was created in the city of Visby and shot

at locations on the Baltic sea island of Fårö, Sweden

 

The filmmakers would like to thank the entire cast of The Sea

for their generosity and commitment to this project.

 

No animals were harmed in the making of this film.

This work was supported in part by a grant

from the William F. Vilas Trust Estate

and by the Creative Arts Award from

University of Wisconsin-Madison’s

Division of the Arts.

For inquiries about a screening license head over to contact and send us an email!

© 2025 Hjärta Nikki AB

  • Facebook

We use cookies on our website to see how you interact with it. By surfing on our website, you agree to our use of such cookies.

bottom of page