Short film: Summer Youth

I remember being young on the beach. I remember not needing anything but the sand, the water, and two feet to run on. I remember doing cartwheels all the way down the shore, and I remember racing with my dad and my sisters. I remember making sandcastles. Not little ones, but big ones, with tools and everything. I remember the sun and fighting my mom as she put sunscreen on me. I remember feeling so clean after a shower and doing puzzles with my grandparents. 

As I’ve gotten older, the beach became less of a playground and more of a tanning bed. The beach became dirty and the water too salty. I miss my youth. I miss days without distractions. I miss the mornings I went straight to the pool, and I miss the nights I stayed until it closed. I miss the simplicity of it all. I miss the fun, the friends. It all still exists now, but it’s just not the same. 

I made this film to document that simplicity. To remember the nights we ran out to the beach in our pajamas. To encourage my 8-year-old cousins to enjoy it while it lasts. I made this film to remember. To remember what it was like to be a child. A child on the beach. Sometimes I think it’s too late for the beach to feel like that again. It feels like it’s gone, it’s a different place now. But sometimes I know that nothing has changed. It will never change. It’s always waiting for me to come back. And I plan on it.