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A family’s bitter struggle to eke out a living in the harsh environment of a high mountain valley has eroded the parent’s marriage. After the tragic death of her father, twelve-year-old Toss, in empathy with her grandfather’s dreams, compensates for a life of isolation by inventing imaginary worlds. The fragments of reality she perceives are put together according to her own logic. When an itinerant hunter begins work on the farm and is befriended by her mother and grandfather, Toss’s reality is thrown further into crisis. The landscape is centrally implicated in a world of nightmares and dreams. Cast includes Penelope Stewart, Frank Whitten, Bill Kerr and Fiona Kay.
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How to watch
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
314107
Language
English
Audience classification
M (15+)
Subject categories
Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Ward, Vincent
Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Adolescence
Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → New Zealand - Rural conditions
Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Adolescence
Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Children - Family relationships
Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Children and death
Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Interpersonal relations in adolescence
Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Teenage girls
Feature films → Feature films - New Zealand
Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Menstruation
Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Nightmares
Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Self-actualization (Psychology)
Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Teenage girls
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Colour
Holdings
VHS; Access Print (Section 1)