Alison loves to swim and can venture into the afterlife by holding her breath under water. There, she enters a world where she can be with her mother.

When her nanny Hua suffers a heart attack, Alison dives too deep for too long, searching for what she had never known to appreciate.

Creative team

Writer/director: Amanda Ann-Min Wong
Producer: Ryan Nesbitt

Filmmaker’s statement

Every girl has a mother figure in their life. Sometimes it’s their real mother, other times it’s a mentor and often times both.

I wanted to tell a story of a girl just starting to find her place in the world who is thrust between two conflicting maternal figures.

The blurred line between life and death was also a subject of fascination to me. It is difficult to reconcile that feeling of separation, standing on two opposite ends that do not coincide.

While writing the script for Swim Low, I drew from my own experience of my grandmother’s passing. Life does not end in death.

Directing Swim Low was a dream come true. I was truly fortunate to have producer Ryan Nesbitt come alongside me upon reading the first draft of the script, and to work with a team of creative, talented individuals. They believed the film’s vision and together we handcrafted mere words and ideas into reality.

I hope you enjoy this film as much as we have enjoyed making it.

About Amanda Ann-Min Wong

Amanda Ann-Min Wong has been a storyteller ever since she can remember.

Born into a family of engineers, she excelled in maths and sciences but found her voice in poetry and short stories. As a teenager, she fell in love with the art of filmmaking as a medium for storytelling.

A graduate of Ryerson University’s film school, Wong has directed and produced numerous narrative and documentary films including The Yonge Guns which featured the award-winning Canadian barbershop quartet of the same name. Swim Low is her directorial debut in fiction short film.

Originally from Singapore, she now lives in Toronto.