At dawn, Jen Casad digs for clams on a coastal mudflat in Maine. At dusk, on that same mudflat, with the same low tide, she digs for clams again. In just two static shots, multimedia artist and filmmaker Sharon Lockhart captures not just the hard work of clam digging, but also everything about the environment surrounding it that words could not express.

Through its stillness and simplicity, Double Tide allows us to truly sit with the repetitive, taxing process of coastal labour in its entirety without sacrificing any of its natural beauty. Across the film’s two long takes, the same picturesque backdrop is radically transformed by light and weather conditions, serving as a reminder of Jen’s dependence on an ever-changing environment.

Double Tide screens in London for the first time in thirteen years as part of Present Silence, a season of contemporary documentary films that provide a quiet space for contemplation and focus, reframing silence not as an uncomfortable absence of sound but as its own enriching presence. Curated by Matthew Smolenski and presented in partnership with The National Film and Television School. This screening will be introduced by season curator Matthew Smolenski.