Directed by:
Ann TurnerScreenplay:
Ann TurnerCinematography:
Geoffrey SimpsonComposer:
Chris NealCast:
Rebecca Smart, Nicholas Eadie, Victoria Longley, Adrian Mitchell, Deborra-Lee Furness, Phillip Holder, Alex Menglet, Reg Evans, David Hoflin, William ZappaPlots(1)
Celia (Rebecca Smart) is a fiercely independent and imaginative 9-year old who lives uncomfortably with her buttoned-down family in suburban Melbourne in the 1950s. Her church going parents are troubled by sexual frustrations and irrational fears about the rise of communism, causing Celia to find refuge with her treasured, tolerant grandmother. But when the latter dies, Celia's world falls apart until a friendship blossoms with new neighbour Alice (Victoria Longley in an AFI winning performance), a fun-loving, open-minded woman with young children. Celia's father (Nicholas Eadie) also becomes enamoured by Alice, but cruelly forces her out of the neighbourhood when he discovers her communist sympathies. A beloved pet rabbit is now Celia's only source of affection, but when it too is taken, the child's world veers ominously between fantasy and reality, violence and tragedy. (Umbrella Entertainment)
(more)Cast
Rebecca Smart
Australia
Best movies:
The Shiralee (1987) (TV movie)
Celia: Child of Terror (1989)
Blackrock (1997)
Nicholas Eadie
Australia
Best movies:
Celia: Child of Terror (1989)
Return to Snowy River (1988)
Halifax f.p. (1994) (series)
Victoria Longley
Australia
Best movies:
Celia: Child of Terror (1989)
Adrian Mitchell
UK
Best movies:
Celia: Child of Terror (1989)
Deborra-Lee Furness
Australia
Best movies:
Voyager (1991)
Newsies (1992)
Angel Baby (1995)
Phillip Holder
Best movies:
A Cry in the Dark (1988)
Celia: Child of Terror (1989)
Childhood's End (2015) (series)
Alex Menglet
Soviet Union
Best movies:
Anzacs (1985) (series)
He Died with a Felafel In His Hand (2001)
Celia: Child of Terror (1989)
Reg Evans
UK
Best movies:
Anzacs (1985) (series)
Gallipoli (1981)
A Cry in the Dark (1988)
David Hoflin
Sweden
Best movies:
Swimming Upstream (2003)
The Peripheral (2022) (series)
A Cry in the Dark (1988)
William Zappa
UK
Best movies:
The Road Warrior (1981)
Underbelly Files: The Man Who Got Away (2011) (TV movie)
The Rage In Placid Lake (2003)