The Big Bad Swim
World Premiere

The Big Bad Swim

| USA | 92 MINUTES | English
Drama

A beginner's adult swim class at a Connecticut recreation center attracts a diverse group of strangers in Ishai Setton's visually arresting debut feature. Amy (Paget Brewster) is a high school math teacher who is in danger of losing both her job and her husband Paul (Grant Aleksander), who is having an affair with another teacher. Amy enrolls in the swim class in order to make new friends, and she immediately befriends Jordan (Jess Weixler), a younger woman who deals blackjack at Mohegan Sun and moonlights as a stripper. Jordan gradually finds herself attracted to handsome swim instructor Noah (Jeff Branson), a former Olympic hopeful who has problems of his own. Rounding out the class are a prosperous couple, a mother and daughter, a competitive young woman who also has her eye on Noah, a new mother who has never felt comfortable in a bathing suit, and a cop. Meanwhile, Jordan's brother David (Avi Setton) and his friend Hunter (Ricky Ullman) are making a documentary about Jordan for David's English class, and their documentary may turn out to be more revealing than they had planned. Daniel Schechter's screenplay probes the everyday loneliness of ordinary lives, the joy of finding love where you least expect it, and the emotional strength that comes with overcoming your fears and just diving into the pool-and life-head first.


Cast & Credits
Directed by
Ishai Setton

Ishai Setton graduated from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts in 2001. His thesis film, The Butcher and the Housewife, a short hard-rock musical set in the glittering metropolis of Allentown, PA, screened at many festivals, including the Seattle, Gen Art, Houston, and Rhode Island International festivals. Dinerama 2000, his half-hour documentary about diners and their biggest fans, has appeared on television and at many festivals. Ishai also recently served as producer for the feature-length documentary Ocho Candelas. The film follows a community of converted Jews in Veracruz, Mexico, and was awarded a Joyce Award for Achievement in Documentary. Ishai is currently at work on a screenplay that combines his greatest passions: spring break, French toast, and outlet malls. The Big Bad Swim is his feature-length directorial debut.

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