Caught by a Wave

Caught by a Wave (Sulla stessa onda, 2021) is an Italian coming-of-age drama you can watch online on iFILM, directed by Massimiliano Camaiti and set against the sailing waters of Sicily. Christian Roberto and Elvira Camarrone play the two leads.

Lorenzo, seventeen, spends his summers teaching sailing at a coastal club and dreaming of competitive regattas. One of his students is Sara — quiet, a little elusive, and sixteen. They grow close, but when Lorenzo tracks her down in Palermo, her father finally explains why she's been keeping her distance: Sara has a degenerative spinal condition, chronic pain, and the sailing course was her father's way of giving her one summer where none of that was the main story.

At 99 minutes the film stays close to the two young actors and doesn't lean on its medical premise for easy emotion. What lingers is the particular sadness of a summer that had to end earlier than planned. Stream Caught by a Wave online on iFILM.