New Zealand in the 1950s was not an especially friendly place for outcasts, especially for those who also happened to be young, queer, or Māori women. When teenage Nellie (Erana James, Hot Mother, NZIFF 2021) and Daisy (Manaia Hall, in her feature film debut) are rounded up on the city streets, they are sent to the School for Incorrigible and Delinquent Girls under the care of a devout matron (Rima Te Wiata, Housebound, NZIFF 2014). There, they meet Lou (Nathalie Morris), a wealthy Pākehā girl whose parents sent her to the school to curtail her wayward behaviour. Reminiscent of conversion therapy camps or Magdalene laundries for “fallen” women, the institution is designed to reform these juvenile rebels into obedient young ladies primed for marriage.
Winning the Special Jury Prize at SXSW this year, Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu’s electric debut opens this year's festival with a fiery trio of delinquent schoolgirls railing against the colonial system in 1950s New Zealand.
Director:
Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu
Producers:
Morgan Waru, Polly Fryer
Executive Producers:
Carthew Neal, Taika Waititi, Bill Way, Elliott Whitton, Emily Gotto
Screenplay:
Maddie Dai, Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu
Cinematography:
María Inés Manchego