My First Summer

16 year old Claudia has lived a secluded life with her writer mother in rural Australia. When her mother dies, Claudia is bereft. She is discovered by Grace, a young local woman who cycles into her life on a red bike, dressed in a pink fairy skirt. Grace initiates the fragile and timid Claudia into new experiences and into the wider world she has previously only heard bad things about. She introduces her particularly to strawberry milk, but many other mysteries and delights.

It's an interesting scenario that develops, with beautifully scripted interactions between the girls.

The rustic setting is gorgeously portrayed, as are the innocent and lovely girls. (DOP Matthew Chuang) Gentle melodic songs mingle with magpie and chicken noises to sweeten the rich psychological drama.

Maiah Stewardson plays Grace, Claudia's mentor and saviour. Claudia is played by Markella Kavenagh (Lord of Rings tv serial).

This is a wonderful story, beautifully told. A highlight of the Adelaide Film Festival.

Was so cute, even when it was evident that they had low budget I think they did it great, the photography was beautiful, the story kind of interesting, and the actresses were absolutely fenomenal, I was really surprised of how I liked it.

I loved everything about this film: the direction, the performances, the camera work, the editing, the music.....

Amazing effort for a first time feature director.

Looking forward to seeing what Katie Found does next!

There's some obvious lack of experience here but as a first feature on a low budget, the effort and potential is evident too.

The real star in the cinematography. Just beautiful. First class. The locations and light are also wonderful but that's the cinematographer bringing it to life. Country Victoria is prime cinematic territory.

The music too is also very good.

A little irony there as with a female writer/director, female main cast and a lesbian story, it's Matthew Chuang who shines.

It's often slow and dull. The story seems thin and unrealistic. It doesn't hold water. (Excuse the pun). If there had been some maturity in the screenplay, the deficiencies in the story could have been overcome. The two leads deserved some more interaction with some substance. All that time alone with not enough going on between them. Markella Kavenagh isn't always convincing either but much of that is her character. It's not a realistic one.

All of the supporting cast have cliched dialogue and a lack of realism. This is again, down to the writing.

The direction is nice at times. The lipstick scene in particularly is quite touching.

The editor and director working together have wisely chosen some of those beautiful images to insert along the way. The close ups of the flowers etc. Or that could have been the intent all along. I keep coming back to that because it's the standout.

I know nothing about the director but hopefully she is young and in time, will develop. Certainly in the screenplay department. Often directors think they're writers too. Rare is the person who can successfully pull off both. There's certainly a lot to like. Just not there yet.

A good effort.