Civil unrest continues in the oil district but once a year, during Sweet Spot, there is a brief chance for a family to reunite safely.

Synopsis

It’s 2054. Years of civil unrest in the Oil District have ended in a split from The City, the carbon neutral poster-child of the future, tearing lives apart.

Kit remains in dangerous isolation, caring for the once promising eco-socialist community her parents built before they died. As she tries to keep her parents’ dream alive, Kit is forced to trade produce for protection in an increasingly lawless landscape.

Leonard, Kit’s brother, worries. He wants her to join him in the safety of The City, so during an annual pause in hostilities known as ‘Sweet Spot’, Leonard braves the wilds to visit Kit. Despite their desperate situation, the siblings endeavour to make their short time together as happy as possible.

Sweet Spot 2054 tracks Leonard and Kit’s different reactions to grief, highlighting how even after death children can long to make their parents proud. In grief, it is hard to know whether you’re living life for yourself, or for the memory of someone you loved.

Written & Directed by Mhairi MacDonald

How did you come up with the concept of the film?

I’m fascinated by connection—how we relate to others and to ourselves. Kae Tempest’s On Connection has shaped my thinking, as has my love of spending time alone outdoors. I’m especially curious about how relationships shift across distance: friends in other cities can grow closer or drift apart, and sometimes all you really want is a casual hang rather than an event with a big lead up. 

I’m drawn to films where characters step away from the noise of modern life and face themselves in nature, like Wild, Nomadland and The Outrun. In this film I wanted to explore that same “cold-turkey” moment of stepping out of convenience and into discomfort.

I started writing in 2022, when discussions around the energy transition felt especially present after COP26 in Glasgow. Time spent in the northeast, where empty buildings and unsold houses reflected shifts in the community, made the social and environmental context feel particularly vivid. 

At its heart, this is a story about two people trying to stay connected despite needing different things from the world around them. The landscape, and the wild west like frontier within it, allowed that tension to unfold visually and naturally.

Watch Full Trailer

Follow @sweet_spot_2054_short_film

CAST

Briony Davies

Llewyn Rabjohns

CREW

Producer Mhairi MacDonald, Camera Ops Mhairi MacDonald & Simon Badham, Sounds Ops Julia Marino Calleja & Katherine Snow, Production Assistants & Design by Benjamin Townsend & Katherine Snow

CAST

Tim Joaquim, David Wood, Rebecca Harrod, Alex Palmer, Patrick McNamee, Cal Bannerman

POST

Editor Mhairi MacDonald, Sound designer Nick Harbourne, Animator Phillip Edge (design by Indy Malanki), Colour grader Brendan Smith