Wild Horses
2017 · 26m · UK
Directed by Rory Alexander Stewart
Genres: coming-of-age, drama
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, tender
Joan is a teenage girl who has spent most of her adolescence housebound with M.E. (myalgic encephalomyelitis); as she begins a slow recovery, her growing urge for independence creates friction with her protective mother. Encouraged by her tutor to push herself further, Joan risks a relapse by leaving the house alone in search of new experience — and a horse.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
M.E. is genuinely under-represented and the description promises a light comic register without trivializing — that combination is hard. Cannes Cinéfondation, Royal Television Society winner. Twenty-six minutes is long for a chamber piece, but the subject earns the runtime.
Selected to Cinéfondation from 2,600 entries, this NFTS graduation film navigates chronic illness with a tonal assurance — neither clinical nor sentimental — that marks a distinctly mature sensibility.
Rory Alexander Stewart grounding a 26-minute coming-of-age in M.E. — a chronic illness almost never depicted on screen — and finding a light comic register without diminishing the weight. RTS Award winner, Cannes Cinéfondation selection.
Festivals
- Cannes Film Festival – Cinéfondation 2017
- Go Short International Short Film Festival (Nijmegen) 2018, Nijmegen Youth Award
- Glasgow Short Film Festival 2018