November 6, 2025 – Montreal – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)

Virginia Tangvald’s documentary Ghosts of the Sea, an investigation into her family’s dark secrets, will be available free of charge as of today, November 6, on NFB platforms. Shot all over the world, the film was released in theatres in many Canadian cities last spring and played at festivals across the country, including:

• the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto;
• the Victoria Film Festival;
• the Atlantic International Film Festival in Halifax;
• Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival.

The film is a Canada-France co-production, produced by micro_scope with the NFB and Urban Factory, distributed by the NFB in Canada.

About the film

Ghosts of the Sea by Virginia Tangvald (micro_scope/NFB/Urban Factory, 97 min)

While searching for clues about the death of her brother Thomas, who was lost at sea, the filmmaker embarks on a fascinating investigation into her family’s dark secrets. Calling into question the idyllic life of her father, legendary sailor Peter Tangvald, her quest dismantles the myth of absolute freedom. Ghosts of the Sea won the TV5 Audience Award for best French-language film at the Festival du nouveau cinéma in Montreal in October 2024. 

In 2024, Virginia Tangvald published her autobiographical story, Les enfants du large, alongside the launch of Ghosts of the Sea, her first feature documentary. A true literary success, the novel has sold more than 25,000 copies in France and Quebec, winning the Discovery of the Fall prize awarded by the French literary organization Société des gens de lettres.

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Version française ici.