The Sea Decides

Director: Alistair Harding  
Year: 2021 
Duration: 77’ 
Country: New Zealand, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia 
Language: English 
Category: Fearless/Mātātoa
Category Sponsor: MiNDFOOD 
Topics: Aotearoa, New Zealand, Sports

A 12,000km journey never before attempted and an adventurer who wouldn’t give up.

Director Harding’s debut feature stuns, pitting the raw power of the ocean against the spirited individuals determined to navigate it.

In January 2017, human-powered adventurer Grant Rawlinson began a journey by rowboat and bicycle that he planned would take him 12,000km from Singapore to New Zealand.

It was a journey never before attempted and included a world-first attempt at rowing from Singapore to Australia; a cycle across the Australian continent; and then an attempt to become only the third solo adventurer in history to row across the notoriously dangerous Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand.

What follows is a brutal and unforgiving eye-witness account of Rawlinson’s journey which will make you wince and wonder just how far you would go to fulfil your own ambitions.

This is a deeply humanistic must-see film that is sure to spark huge debates across the world.