Celia (Blu-ray)

Set in mid 1950s Australia, with the manufactured fear of communism in the air, Ann Turner's refreshingly unsentimental debut feature depicts a long hot summer seen through the eyes and over-active imagination of nine-year-old Celia.

Shaken by the death of her beloved Grandmother, Celia finds herself adrift between the cruel games and rituals of childhood and the incomprehensible world of grown-ups. With monstrous creatures stalking her dreams by night, those imagined terrors blur by day with the banal brutality of the adult world and lead to tragic and shocking consequences.

Presented from a stunning new 2K restoration, this dark fable of childhood's end ranks alongside Lord of the Flies, The 400 Blows, Stand By Me and Pan’s Labyrinth.

Winner: 1989 Grand Prix, Créteil International Women's Film Festival

“... marks a feature debut of astonishing skill... forceful, outlandish and highly provocative” Empire ****

“Transfixing, assured, extremely lucid… recalls the deceptive serenity of BLUE VELVET” Janet Maslin, New York Times

• Presented from a new 2K restoration by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia.
• Celia's World (2021): a new, exclusive and expansive documentary on the film's background and legacy made specially for this release by director Ann Turner.
• A filmed interview with Ann Turner.
• There's Something About ‘Celia’ (2021): Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, author of 1000 Women in Horror, in conversation with Maria Lewis at the Australian Centre for Moving Image, Melbourne.
• Extensive photo gallery.
• Booklet featuring essays by film historian Michael Brooke and professor Joy Damousi, and ‘The Hobyahs’, a traditional folktale featured in the film.
• Region free Blu-ray (A/B/C).
• World premiere on Blu-ray.