Bringing an Epic Channel Swim to the Screen
FERDUSARA ALI
They left Dover at dawn: 18 hours and 17 minutes later the five friends from Sussex arrived on French sand having completed a relay swim across the English Channel.
Hannah Marshall swimming mid-channel
The Sussex Seals – Catherine Bray, Hannah Collison, Polly Gifford, Natasha Holt and Berry White – took turns swimming hour-long stretches through cold, dark, and choppy water, facing tides, seasickness, jellyfish and sheer exhaustion. Their crossing raised more than £22,000 for The Royal Marsden cancer charity.
Ages ranged from 35 to 57, and each swimmer brought a different motive. Some were propelled by grief for loved ones lost to cancer, others by a desire to test personal limits. Despite the physical toll – sleep deprivation, muscle fatigue and the mental strain of night swimming – the team says it was companionship and steady rhythm of the rotation that kept them moving.
Their feat is now the focus of a new documentary Between Shores, filmed by Hastings-born director Rebecca E Marshall of Dear Future Films. Marshall, a co-founder of the Electric Palace Cinema and a filmmaker known for capturing intimate, human moments, recorded the entire crossing over 19 hours alongside support-crew member Savannah Karr. The footage includes above and underwater sequences and will be woven together with interviews that explore why women take on extraordinary challenges.
Marshall describes the film as her “love letter to courage, friendship and the fortitude of women …” an attempt to show the complexity behind the simple headline: ‘Five Women Swim the Channel’. Rather than simply an endurance odyssey, Between Shores aims to reveal how personal histories, shared vulnerability and quiet solidarity intersect in the water.
The team is now asking the local community and beyond to help finish the film. They have launched a crowdfunding campaign seeking £6,000 to cover post-production costs: editing, sound, design, colour grading, subtitles, graphics, and promotion. All filming to date, including specialist underwater work, was donated, and the Electric Palace has pledged to host the premiere. If the campaign surpasses its target, extra funds will support festival submissions and international subtitling to help the story reach wider audiences and generate further donations for cancer care.
For the Sussex Seals, the Channel crossing was never just a physical accomplishment. It became a shared narrative of resilience and connection – a group of women doing something extraordinary together – and now they want that story to inspire others on screen as well as in the sea.
More details and ways to support
the film are on the fundraising campaign page: kickstarter.com/projects/between-shores/between-shores-a-cross-channel-sea-swimming-film
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Dear Sussex Seals, huge congratulations on your swim and the money raised for the Royal Marsden.
Now time to enjoy the festivities and a happy New Year.
Best wishes
Simon Hasler – Producer of the film Vindication Swim