In remote Newfoundland, the scarcely populated town of Sweetland is in slow decline. It seems the inevitable end of the small community when the Canadian government offers each islander a generous resettlement package, on the condition that every person agrees to leave. The sole holdout is enigmatic loner and former lighthouse keeper Charles Moses, who feels tethered to Sweetland by his past and fears that his autistic nephew will not be able to adapt to the stifling world of the mainland. Despite growing resentment that spirals into threats of violence from the other inhabitants, Moses becomes only more determined to hold his ground and finds himself driven to acts of increasing desperation as the border between the natural world and the supernatural begins to blur.

Adapted from the novel by award winning author (and Newfoundland native) Michael Crummey, Sweetland is a rich portrait of a vanishing way of life. Director Christian Sparkes wanted to show a real face of the unique environment he grew up in, a land of bleak truth and mysterious beauty that’s very different from the Canadian tourism ads. What emerges is a timeless narrative about those who cling to their identities in the face of unstoppable change, a haunting ghost story and an elegy for a culture.