Australia, 1988
Length / Feature: 104 minutes
Length / Special features: 94 minutes
2.0 Dual Mono LPCM (48k/24-bit)
Colour
Original aspect ratio:
1:85:1
Language: English
Subtitles: English SDH
Blu-Ray: BD50 / 1080p
Region ABC (Region Free)
Blu-Ray RRP: £19.99
Release Date: 18 October 2021
Second Run BD045
Blu-Ray |
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Set in mid-1950s Australia, with the 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.
This dark fable of childhood's end ranks alongside Lord of the Flies, The 400 Blows, Stand By Me and Pan’s Labyrinth.
Presented from a new 2K restoration, our world premiere, region-free Blu-ray Special Edition features an all-new expansive documentary on the film's background and legacy made especially for this release by director Ann Turner, an interview with the director, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Maria Lewis on Celia, plus a booklet with essays by Michael Brooke and Professor Joy Damousi and more!
• Celia (1988) presented from a new 2K restoration by the National Film and Sound Archive
of Australia, approved by the director.
• Celia's World (2021): a new, exclusive and expansive documentary on the film's
background and legacy made especially 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.
• Extensive image gallery.
• 24-page booklet featuring essays by film historian Michael Brooke and Professor
Joy Damousi, and ‘The Hobyahs’, a traditional folktale featured in the film.
• English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing.
• Region free Blu-ray (A/B/C)
• World premiere on Blu-ray.
Directed and written by Ann Turner
Producers - Timothy White and Gordon Glenn
Director of Photography - Geoffrey Simpson
Production Designer - Peta Lawson
Editor - Ken Sallows
Music - Chris Neal
Associate Producer - Ian Pringle
Executive Producer - Bryce Menzies
Main cast
Rebecca Smart - Celia Carmichael
Nicholas Eadie - Ray Carmichael
Mary-Anne Fahey - Pat Carmichael
Victoria Longley - Alice Tanner
Alexander Hutchinson - Steve Tanner
Adrian Mitchell - Karl Tanner
Callie Gray - Meryl Tanner
Martin Sharman - Evan Tanner
William Zappa - Sergeant John Burke
Amelia Frid - Stephanie Burke
Margaret Ricketts - Gran
Other modern and classic cinematic gems
availble on Second Run
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1989 Créteil International Women's Film Festival
- Winner: Grand Prix
“Little short of miraculous... The most striking debut to reach us from Australia during the 80s” Derek Malcolm, The Guardian
“A feature debut of astonishing skill... forceful, outlandish and highly provocative” Empire (4 stars)
“Transfixing, assured, extremely lucid… recalls the deceptive serenity of Blue Velvet” Janet Maslin, New York Times
“A gifted and deceptively complex film... Celia shows that a film can talk about serious ideas without compromising its power to intrigue and entertain” David Robinson, The Times
“One of the best movies about childhood from the past 30 years... Charming, funny, scary, tragic and unnerving” Empire
“Reminiscent of Peter Weir's films, Pans Labyrinth and Lord of the Flies... A haunting, creepy examination of innocence lost” The Independent
“Haunting, thought-provoking and brilliantly acted” Film 4
“Be warned: this is one kids film that's made for adults. It packs a powerful sting in the tail” Playboy
“Brisk narrative is subverted by shades-of-Carrie horror” Sunday Times
“Gets all the prizes going... One of the most successful feature film debuts I can remember”
Alexander Walker, Evening Standard
“I rate Celia as one of those classics of childhood such as Reed’s The Fallen Idol or Truffaut’s The 400 Blows”
Tom Hutchinson, The Mail
