When memory begins to fade, love is put to the test. Set in a run-down Wellington villa in 2003, Caterpillar follows three women living separate lives under one leaky roof. Sixteen-year-old Cassie is all bravado and vulnerability, drifting into risky territory as she searches for belonging. Her mother Maxine, 52, is a formidable single parent and filmmaker on the brink of a long-awaited breakthrough, finally offered a greenlight—if she can land a star. Holding everything together is Huia, Cassie’s grandmother, 80, whose life has been defined by quiet service to family and a private obsession with raising monarch caterpillars, dreaming of one day witnessing the legendary butterfly migration in Mexico.
13th Floor Film – “Positioned within a recent wave of intimate, female-authored New Zealand cinema, Caterpillar feels confident and deeply felt — a film finely attuned to emotional truth. It doesn’t overstate its themes, and it doesn’t rush its transformations. Like the creature at its centre, it quietly insists that meaningful change is rarely neat, and never predictable.” (full review here)
Spicy Pulp – “In her feature film debut, Crayford crafts a deeply personal meditation on womanhood and familial connection, drawing inspiration from her own experiences and the women who shaped her life. What results is a film that feels utterly authentic in its exploration of the emotional complexities that women carry through different stages of life.” (full review here)
The Spinoff – “In our current hellscape dominated by conflict, violence and the manosphere, watching something so tender and nuanced about women’s lives feels like coming up for air.” (full review here)
