In Need of Seawater.

★★★★ “A quietly powerful poetic documentary.” — Indie Wrap

★★★★☆ “A powerful and moving documentary.” - Stockholm City Film Festival

★★★★ “A smashing success.” — Take2IndieReview

★★★★½ “A compelling and emotionally rich poetic experience.” — IndyRed

★★★★ “A potent mix.” — Copenhagen Headliner Film Festival

★★★★ “Probably one of the most accessible poetry films I’ve seen.” — Film Threat

★★★★ “A quietly powerful poetic documentary.” — Indie Wrap ★★★★☆ “A powerful and moving documentary.” - Stockholm City Film Festival ★★★★ “A smashing success.” — Take2IndieReview ★★★★½ “A compelling and emotionally rich poetic experience.” — IndyRed ★★★★ “A potent mix.” — Copenhagen Headliner Film Festival ★★★★ “Probably one of the most accessible poetry films I’ve seen.” — Film Threat

A new documentary short, In Need of Seawater is a quietly powerful film that brings poetry off the page and into the room. The film has received strong critical praise, described as “a smashing success,” “deeply resonant,” and “quietly powerful” for its emotional clarity and restraint.

The documentary follows writer Mark Anthony Thomas as he returns to the poems that shaped his early creative life—written more than twenty years ago during his time in Atlanta and later collected in The Poetic Repercussion. Performed live in a Baltimore apartment before a small audience, these words become both memory and confession.

Directed by Richard Yeagley, In Need of Seawater blends staged performance, close-range readings, and rare archival footage into an intimate cinematic experience. What emerges is a portrait of a young artist wrestling with identity, memory, and the search for clarity, set against a country in motion.

The first installment in a poetic documentary trilogy, In Need of Seawater revisits the past not as nostalgia, but as a map—revealing how language anchors a life, how expression becomes survival, and why these words still matter now.

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To request additional information, film assets or public relations:
Contact: Ian Alden Russell (ian@ianaldenrussell.com)

Festivals and Awards.

FILM CREDITS

Director:
Richard Yeagley

Producers:
Mark Anthony Thomas, Richard Yeagley, Scott Burkholder, Dustin Kuhns

Cast:
Ziaire Mann, Amanie Meade, Royal Cross, Erica Ligon, Desmond Johnson

Cinematography:
Allen Irwin, Umit Gulsen, Austin Ahlborg

Archival Producer:
Lizzy Barrett

Colorist:
Carter Knopik

Sound Mixing and Design:
Cristina Wen

Production Assistants: Vito Cetta,
Michael Brown

Cover Artwork:
Jeffrey Kent

Additional Photography:
James Robinson, Christopher Moore, Lyndon Winchester, Carucha L. Meuse