2024 SXSW Dispatch: The Festival Starts Strong by Celebrating International Women's Day

The day concluded with the world premiere of Marco Calvani's "High Tide," starring an ensemble cast including Marco Pigossi, James Bland, Marisa Tomei, and Bill Irwin. (Click here for EDGE's interview with Calvani, Pigossi and Bland.) Set against the backdrop of Provincetown, we find Brazilian immigrant Lourenço (Pigossi) heartbroken after his boyfriend seemingly dumped him during their travels. Stuck in one of the gayest towns on Earth, Lourenço lies to his conservative family back in Brazil about what he's doing for a living, what his sexuality is, and what his next steps are going to be.

The problem at hand is that handsome Lourenço doesn't know what's next for him. Living with a kind widower (Irwin) for the summer while cleaning rooms in a nearby hotel, he struggles to find a business willing to extend a work visa for him to stay, as winter is quickly approaching and tourists will soon be gone. Deep in depression and waiting for his long-lost love to possibly come and rescue him from the gorgeous East Coast beaches, Lourenço meets 36-year-old Maurice (Bland), who takes the young Brazilian under his wing while Maurice and his friends visit Provincetown for a week.

"High Tide" is a coming-of-age story for adults in their 30s looking for guidance on what to do next. Lourenço and Maurice's relationship evolves from immediate friends to something beautiful... not necessarily romantic at first, but deeply personal and thought-provoking as the two men share war stories about their childhoods, religion, being gay in the modern world, and the current state of affairs. Loneliness takes many shapes, but connection is powerful in this LGBTQ+ drama.

But what happens when Maurice eventually leaves, and their days of nude ocean swimming come to an end?

The film is a sexy reminder that even when we believe our circumstances can't improve, someone can always come along to change our perspective on what we value and hold close to our hearts. Pigossi and Bland's chemistry is worth the watch, while Calvani's direction provides enough ocean views and personality to keep the story flowing in a new and interesting direction. Maurice's kindness, and the rebound nature of their relationship, is precisely what Lourenço needs during a time of great transition. Still, while their new relationship can't fix all of Lourenço's monumental problems, it encapsulates a nice escape for the two.