Intrigue

When September is suspended from their school, her sister July begins to assert her own independence. Tension in the family builds on holiday Ireland as a series of surreal encounters test the them all to their limit.

Sisters July and September are thick as thieves, though very different -September is protective and distrustful of others, while July is open to and curious about the world. Their dynamic is a concern to their single mum, Sheela, who is unsure what to do with them. When September is suspended from their school, July is left to fend for herself and begins to assert her own independence - which does not go unnoticed by September. Tension among the three women builds when they take refuge in an old holiday home in Ireland, where July finds her bond with September shifting in ways she cannot entirely understand or control - and a series of surreal encounters test the family to their limit.

Teenage sisters July (Mia Tharia) and September (Pascale Kann) are extremely close. So entwined that they seem to require no one else. They tolerate their single mother, Sheela (Rakhee Thakrar, Sex Education), but even at school, the duo's interactions with the other students are mostly acrimonious. Born just 10 months apart, September is extremely protective of July, but she also expects her sister to follow every instruction, however unreasonable. When July begins to exert her independence and acts on the attraction she feels for a boy at school, things take a bad turn. Mother and daughters decamp to an old family home in Ireland, where the bond between July and September takes on new, increasingly heightened dimensions. In her visually inventive, atmospheric and surreal debut, director Ariane Labed explores these familial ties - and a love so intense it transforms reality.—Sydney Film Festival