Mathilda
2012 · 12m · Australia
Directed by Matthew Chuang
Genres: coming-of-age, fantasy, horror
A ten-year-old girl living with a monstrous figure devises a plan to protect herself and her younger sister in this modern gothic fairytale. Won the Silver Audience Award at Fantasia International Film Festival 2012.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
Fairytale where the monster is real and nobody's coming to save the kid except the kid. Australian genre filmmaking that does more in twelve minutes than most feature horror does in ninety. The little girl plans, executes, survives — no male savior in sight.
Matthew Chuang gives a ten-year-old full narrative agency against a monster — no adults arrive — and the modern-fairytale register holds. Fantasia's Silver Audience Award earned.
Matthew Chuang giving full narrative agency to a ten-year-old in a monster-in-the-house fairytale — no adults arriving to save her. Fantasia Silver Audience Award. Modern gothic with a real center of gravity.
Festivals
- Fantasia International Film Festival 2012, Silver Audience Award for Best Short Film