Vigil


The New Zealand Film Commission Collection


 

Director
Vincent Ward

Cast 
Bill Kerr
Fiona Key
Penelope Stewart

Vigil is the first film from New Zealand to compete in Cannes (1984). Winner of the Best Film award at the Madrid Film Festival, it was the first feature film of 30 year-old Vincent Ward. Vigil is a powerful atmospheric drama set in a primeval valley where four characters live and farm in an uneasy coexistence. The story unfolds through the eyes of Toss, an 11 year-old girl caught up in the tragedy of her father's death and the arrival of a stranger, Ethan. Ward spent five years making this mystical testimony to the beauty and immutability of nature's laws and the circle of life and death.

English | 1984 | 90 mins