"After a tragic loss, college dropout Emily (Zola Grimmer) is desperate for some distance in , the sophomore feature from 22-year-old writer-director Avalon Fast. While her father (Michael Tan) is patient and supportive, the comfort of returning home only seems to make Emily regress into a volatile depression. On a lark of sorts, he suggests that she apply to work as a counselor at a summer camp deep in the Canadian wilderness."
"As it turns out, the women's witchy-ness extends well past their wardrobe. As Emily grows closer to them, she begins to identify peculiarities: they're never hungover despite binge drinking nightly; they possess strange power over men, including charismatic (and devout) lead counselor Dan (Austyn Van de Kamp); they also have a strange symbiosis with their verdant surroundings, as if being back at the camp has physically reinvigorated them."
"Fast's sophomore feature feels both like an extension of -her ultra lo-fi 2022 debut she helmed as a teenager with a group of friends-yet it is also a major evolution for the filmmaker herself. While thematic interests in femme friendships and the strange natural splendor of her native Vancouver Island are carried over in , it is also visually distinct."
A grieving college dropout named Emily seeks distance after a tragic loss and accepts a counselor position at a Christian-leaning summer camp in the Canadian wilderness. She encounters a group of goth women who immediately embrace her as “another gorgeous weirdo.” Their witchy behavior reveals uncanny traits: nightly binge drinking without hangovers, seductive influence over men, and a physical renewal tied to the camp’s verdant surroundings. Emily’s planned fresh start evolves into a profound and unsettling transformation that transcends a simple personal reckoning. The film maintains themes of femme friendship and natural splendor while advancing from an ultra lo-fi debut to a more sumptuous visual style.
Read at Filmmaker Magazine
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