A Seaside Story

Eleven-year-old Steve is the smallest boy in class. He thinks girls are soppy, detests football and prefers painting. To alleviate his loneliness, he occasionally escapes into an excitingly violent fantasy realm of his own creation. His best mate Stuart is the only solid thing in a comfortless world where people argue too much… usually about Steve.

When his father runs off and his mother hooks up with a mustachioed new beau, eleven-year-old Mark becomes convinced that an uninvited talkative space alien, going by the name "Split," has taken up telepathic residence in his mind, and is leading him to question the norms of planet Earth. Only one teacher is willing to entertain the possibility that Mark just might be telling the truth.

When a work-related dispute erupts between their fathers, the friendship of teenagers Joseph and Peter is put under strain.

Puberty is an ordeal and a joy. Children become adolescents: how do they react to this development? With the help of four different short films, the Brit Roger Lambert succeeds in wonderfully fathoming this important time. In "Split" (1974), a boy with behavioral difficulties tries to make life bearable with imaginary aliens. In "I Want To Be Famous" (1976), it's Steve, the youngest and smallest in his class, who creates a fantasy world for himself until his best friend Stuart, down-to-earth and clever, forces him to face reality. "Follow You Follow Me" (1979) observes the vulnerable friendship between two boys: shy Joseph and confident Peter. But Joseph's father is Peter's father's employer. With "A Seaside Story" (1986) we meet again two friends, this time they are seventeen, who are vacationing together at the sea: the self-confident Martin and Sam, the dreamer. At a beachfront guesthouse run by an eccentric lady, the two have an unforgettable time.