On Margate Sands

On Margate Sands is drawn from Part III of T.S. Eliot’s famous poem, The Waste Land (published in 1922). Eliot wrote a rough draft of this part while living in Margate for three weeks in the autumn of 1921. His profound and brooding commentary about the town is the core concern of the documentary. Even after a hundred years, the poem’s essence seems to echo throughout the town. The film explores every street of Margate through meticulously chosen imagery, alongside interaction with local people, to identify and understand the source behind this supposed strangeness, or melancholia, or a sort of dystopian vibe of the place. Nevertheless, during this exploration, the filmmaker discovers the one element that offers the natives some solace and binds them together – the sea.

This film is part of Student Films - Landscape Symphonies.