Still Sailing
Logline
When a ten-year-old boy with a hyperactive imagination refuses to believe his father is dead, he convinces his grieving mother to take him on a cruise vacation—secretly planning to use it as his mission to find his missing dad.
Rugrats meets Little Miss Sunshine
Synopsis
Reggie (10) is brilliant, determined, and heartbreakingly hopeful. He lives between reality and imagination, and has spent two years of secret planning based on misunderstood love. He's inherited his father's storytelling gift and whimsical logic.
Amy (late 30s/early 40s) is an exhausted single mother and former photographer. Her grief is hidden behind practical preparation. She promised this cruise to honor her husband's memory, and through the journey, she's rediscovering her ability to see beauty instead of just preserve it.
When Reggie discovers that his father's bedtime stories contain real clues to actual places throughout Northern New England and Maritime Canada—Bar Harbor, Halifax, and St. John's—he embarks on a secret treasure hunt during their family cruise. What starts as a child's quest becomes a journey of healing for both mother and son.
The film seamlessly blends reality with imagination through watercolor animation sequences that show the world through Reggie's eyes. As he follows the clues, both he and Amy learn that some treasures are worth searching for, while others are worth letting go.
Set against the stunning maritime landscapes of Canada's eastern coast, Still Sailing explores authentic grief processing without manipulation, the power of imagination to heal, and the understanding that love travels across any distance—even time.
Writer's Statement
Still Sailing was born while I sat in a cruise ship pub outside Bar Harbor, Maine, staring out at the coastal islands. As a tall ship drifted past the window, I immediately thought of Rugrats—that brilliant way of seeing the world through a child's eyes where everyday moments become epic adventures.
I found myself imagining a ten-year-old boy seeing those same views but searching them for clues to find his missing father. What if we could capture that Rugrats magic with the raw emotion and realism of Little Miss Sunshine? A child's logic turning a family vacation into a secret mission, imagination colliding with grief, and the healing that happens when families finally share the stories they've been carrying alone.
My theater background taught me that authentic emotion comes from honest observation. Still Sailing explores how love travels across any distance—even time—through the eyes of a child who refuses to stop believing in adventure.
The film celebrates dual reality storytelling through seamless animation sequences, stunning maritime locations, and authentic grief processing without sentimentality. It's about treasures that can't be bought or stolen: trust, imagination, and the courage to keep sailing even when the waters get rough.
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