Song of the Sea

Song of the Sea (2014) is an Irish animated film directed by Tomm Moore that you can watch online on iFILM. Produced by Cartoon Saloon, it is drawn by hand in a flat style that pulls from Celtic manuscript illumination — closer to medieval illustration than anything digital. Brendan Gleeson and Fionnula Flanagan provide voices, alongside the children's cast.

Ben lives with his younger sister Saoirse and their lighthouse-keeper father on a remote Atlantic island. Their mother vanished the night Saoirse was born. The girl has never spoken a word. Then one night she finds an old white coat and walks into the sea — because she is, according to Celtic selkie legend, the last seal-child left in the world. Her song is the only thing that can free the fairy folk who have been slowly turning to stone, and Ben has to get her home before Granny brings them both to the city for good.

Moore made The Secret of Kells before this film and Wolfwalkers after — a loose trilogy rooted in Irish folklore, each hand-drawn, each nominated for the animated feature Oscar. Song of the Sea landed its own nomination in 2015. Of the three, it tends to be the one people remember longest. Stream Song of the Sea (2014) online on iFILM.