Sweetland

Presented by Reel Alternatives Huntsville in partnership with Algonquin Theatre

The story of an endangered Newfoundland community and the struggles of one man determined to resist its extinction.

The scarcely populated town of Sweetland is in slow decline when the mainland government offers each islander a generous resettlement package. The sole stipulation is that everyone must leave. But enigmatic, retired fisherman Moses (Mark Lewis Jones) is one of the last hold-outs. He’s lived here his entire life, and he’s not ready to put his ghosts behind him. Motivated by a sense of history, haunted by mistakes of his youth and concerned that his autistic nephew Jesse will wilt on the mainland, Moses holds his ground. His outright refusal to accept the resettlement package antagonizes him against some of the other residents of his community, further isolating him as a result.

As he manages a diminishing food supply and battles the ravages of the weather, the border between the natural world and the supernatural world blur and he finds himself moved to acts of increasing desperation, only to be stymied again and again by the ruins of memory and the fierce will of nature. Directed by Christian Sparkes, this haunting adaptation of the novel by Michael Crummey is distinguished by its beautiful cinematography and a formidable central performance from Mark Lewis Jones.

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