Ashes of Roses (work-in-progress)

8 minutes | 2023 I 16mm + digital
 

In the arid 1920s Australian Outback, a Catholic priest and the beautiful niece of a vast sheep station owner stand powerless before God's will, tormented by desire. How far are they willing to go in the name of love?

 

The above is the IMDB summary of The Thorn Birds - a wildly popular novel (1977) and mini-series (1983) - about a lifelong romance between a young girl and her family’s priest. My new film, ASHES OF ROSES – second in a "hockey mom" trilogy –combines elements of The Thorn Birds with the trashy coming-of-age movie St. Elmo’s Fire (1985) plus original 16mm footage of wildflowers, my daughters, old yearbooks, scented candles and more.  The result?  A sui generis, painfully awkward, slow-burn-outrageous experimental essay film about football parties, adolescent desire, older men, and the mundane humiliations of being a teenage girl in the 1980s.

Screenings/Exhibitions: 

TBD

 

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