AS THE SUN BEGINS TO SET

An elegantly composed and humorously observed look at life onboard the Queen Elizabeth II.

Over tea and cakes on the sun deck, elderly guests of this floating senior citizen's club reflect on the experience of luxury and being pampered, something they had thought unobtainable during their working lives.

The filmmaker, Julie Moggan, is a stylist, favouring unhurried static frames in which her characters happily reveal themselves. Ethel and Alice rarely leave the ship to see the ports of the Mediterranean. The Catos, who met 43 years ago on a cruise, spend most of their time researching marine history in the library. And New Yorker Munroe sits in the afterdeck remembering his fallen comrades from D-Day and still harbouring dreams of finding love. As the Sun Begins to Set charms us by utilising the engaging observational style MIFF audiences were introduced to in 2004 with Julie Moggan's short documentary Waiting for a Lift.

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D/P Julie Moggan WS Julie Moggan TD video/2005/58mins

Julie Moggan was born in Ipswich, UK, in 1976. Her films include Waiting for a Lift (MIFF 2004, short).