In 1966, David Stent – a young waterman from Eltham, London – won the race for Doggett’s Coat and Badge on the River Thames. It’s the world’s oldest boat race, first held in 1715. He was just 21 years old. Now his son – twice the age and half as fit – is about to travel across the world for the first time, determined to row the same course as his late father, sixty years on.

He has just six weeks to learn how to row – something he’s never done before – and even less time getting to know the river his father once spent years on as an apprentice waterman. The physical challenge is real – and often light hearted – but there’s an emotional weight to what he’s doing and why.

The Waterman’s Son is a compelling real life story about legacy, loss, and self-discovery in life’s hardest moments. It speaks to the silence that often divides men across generations. Grief. Unspoken love. Conversations we never have. Almost everyone carries a version of the same story. At the heart of the film is a question the son finds himself asking more and more – did I ever truly know my father as a man?

The film transitions from one of the most breathtaking landscapes in the southern hemisphere – Queenstown, New Zealand – to the heart of one of the most emotionally resonant cities on earth, London. It’s a heritage story rooted in over 300 years of history on the River Thames, with a genuine, global cinematic appeal.