At a competitive boarding school, teenage girls find friendship and first love while training for careers as professional mermaids in the world’s grandest aquariums. In this mesmerising pop infused fantasy, Konstantina Kotzamani (What Mary Didn’t Know) again shows she has a wonderful eye for lyrical images and for truly original female coming-of-age stories.

Titanic Ocean
Titanic Ocean
Australian Premiere.
Director
Runtime
130 Minutes
Country
France, Germany, Greece, Romania, Spain
Classification
Unclassified 15+
Teenage girls compete at the world’s most unique boarding academy to become professional mermaids, aspiring to dazzle audiences while swimming with sharks at the world’s grandest aquariums. Greek new wave filmmaker Konstantina Kotzamani (What Mary Didn’t Know) shows again she has a wonderful eye for lyrical and surreal images and female coming-of-age stories. It is a dreamy world of both neon lighting and other gauzy accoutrements of mermaid culture and rigorous poolside training requiring strict discipline to hold your breath for the longest time. In this immersive watery world, the students become friends but are under constant pressure to transform by finding their essential ‘mermaidness’ – a combination of a new name, hair colour and the uniqueness in the way they move through water and flick their silicon tail. Real mermaid treasure only comes when you find your own mermaid song and then your siren voice. For 17-year-old Akame that song will be Lykke Li’s I Followed Rivers, a shattering call for her and her crush, Coach Kotaro.
“Titanic Ocean is an excitingly original film that captures familiar teenage anxieties in a fantastical setting.”
Little White Lies
Cannes
Film Credits
Director
Konstantina Kotzamani
Year
2026
Country
France, Germany, Greece, Romania & Spain
Language
Japanese
Subtitles
English
Type
Feature Fiction
Program Strand
World Cinema
Producer
Maria Drandaki, Nina Frese, Keisuke Konishi, Hiroto Ogi, Luisa Romeo & Radu Stancu
Writer
Konstantina Kotzamani
Cinematographer
Raphaël Vandenbussche
Editor
Vincent Tricon
Cast
Arisa Sasaki, Haruna Matsui & Melina Mardini
Music
Patricia Ferragud
Genre
Fantasy, Romance & Women
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