Award-winning Australian feature film THE GREENHOUSE, written and directed by Thomas Wilson-White, is set to premiere on Netflix on February 16 to coincide with Mardi Gras 2022. Described as a modern queer fairytale, the film premiered internationally at the prestigious BFI: FLARE Film Festival in London in March 2021 before screening at numerous domestic film festivals to rave reviews. It won Best Film at Melbourne Queer Film Festival and Gold Coast Film Festival, the Audience Choice Award at Mardi Gras Film Festival and the Australian Directors Guild Award for Best Direction in a Feature Film (budget under $1M) for first-time feature director Wilson-White.
The emotions of the film might be a bit triggering for those of us struggling with the complexities around death, but there’s a wonderfully bittersweet healing to be had if you’re open to it, a recognition that you did all you could, and you have to forgive yourself for the hurt you caused because the love outweighs that so much more. Perhaps that’s a comforting lie but it feels necessary.
Read nisha-anne’s review here
THE GREENHOUSE asks, ‘what would you do if you could go back in time?’ On the eve of her widowed mother’s sixtieth birthday, Beth (Jane Watt) discovers a way to do just that and relishes the idyllic memories of her first lost love. But when her mother and siblings discover her secret, she stands to lose everything. With a “touch of ‘Australian gothic’… that’s tonally reminiscent of Peter Weir’s 1975 classic, Picnic at Hanging Rock” (The Queer Review), THE GREENHOUSE explores how having the courage to step back into the past can leave lasting impacts on both your present and future.
It’s been years since the death of one of her mothers, but Beth still languishes at her family home with her surviving mother, Ruth. Her three siblings, on the other hand, have moved on and moved away. On the eve of Ruth’s sixtieth birthday and after a vivid dream, a vision entices Beth out onto the property, where she discovers a greenhouse that sends her into the past – where her mother Lillian is alive, and a younger Beth is trying to deal with her own burgeoning sexuality. As her siblings and a past love return home, tempers flare and Beth’s retreats to the greenhouse are discovered. But as the fractured family begins searching for what they’ve lost, an unexpected decision will change not just their past, but also their future.
Writer/director Thomas Wilson-White says, “THE GREENHOUSE was finished during the pandemic in 2020, and for a while we wondered if we would ever screen our film for an audience, with the pandemic seriously affecting the cinema and festival landscape. We would not be here without the immense support of our local and international LGBTQIA+ champions, festival programmers and movie-goers, who sought out our film despite the unpredictable and often disenfranchising times we released in. To partner with Netflix after such a tumultuous journey and have the film available to the LGBTQIA+ community and beyond is testament to the tenacity and determination of independent filmmakers. My producer, Lizzie Cater, and I couldn’t be prouder of this triumph.”
A graduate of the AFTRS Masters program and recipient of the inaugural Charlie’s Grant in 2020, Wilson-White is an award-winning queer writer/director who recently completed writing on the Heartbreak High reboot for Netflix. He is currently developing an original television series, his sophomore feature film and a longform project with Aquarius Films. His previous short films have played around the world to critical acclaim.
THE GREENHOUSE marks the first feature film from production company Everyone We Know, founded by Wilson-White and producer Lizzie Cater. Both filmmakers grew up in regional NSW as family friends, sharing a similar youth and upbringing, which were pivotal to their collaboration on THE GREENHOUSE. The film is heavily autobiographical and documents Wilson-White’s adolescence, growing up with two Mums in regional Australia and the family that made him who he is today.
Filmed on location in Jervis Bay on the south coast of NSW, THE GREENHOUSE was made entirely independently by Wilson-White and Cater, along with their team of emerging creative talent and an exciting, diverse cast. The film was made with the support of AFTRS and Queer Screen, as well as generous donors and in-kind support, especially within the Jervis Bay community. Additional post-production investment was provided by Serve Chilled. The film is distributed in ANZ by Pivot Pictures and in the UK by Bohemia Media.
THE GREENHOUSE will premiere on Netflix on February 16.
Watch the trailer here:
