Caterpillar

A tender, bittersweet portrait of three generations under one roof, balancing warmth and quiet heartbreak as memory slips away.

Directed by

Chelsie Preston Crayford

Genres

Drama

Starring

Marta Dusseldorp, Lisa Harrow, Anais Shand

Tagline

When memory begins to fade, love is put to the test.

Overview

Three generations living under one leaky Wellington roof in 2003, all on the brink of transformation. Sixteen-year-old Cassie is all bravado and vulnerability, drifting into risky territory as she searches for validation in all the wrong places. Her mother Maxine, 52, a formidable single-mother filmmaker on the brink of a long-awaited breakthrough, is finally offered a greenlight - if she can just land a star. Holding everything together is Huia, Cassie’s grandmother, 80, whose life has been defined by quiet service to family and a private obsession with raising monarch caterpillars, dreaming of one day witnessing the legendary butterfly migration in Mexico. But when Huia’s mind begins to fail her, the family is thrust into chaos. Can the maternal line hold together while everything is throwing them apart?

How it feels

Melancholic, warm, earnest and tense. Measured and needs your attention.

About

Family, memory, aging, identity

Content

Mild sexual content and language. No violence or gore.

Note

Written by AI, so it can be wrong. Full breakdown

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Watch the trailer on YouTube (opens in a new tab)