About this Short Film
Convalescence, from Otumoetai College (New Zealand, 2015), is a short school film that uses a raw, second-person narration to explore the aftermath of a deeply distressing experience and the slow work of recovery. It addresses isolation, guilt, intrusive memories and the disrupted rhythms of sleep and appetite, presenting an intimate, unsparing interior perspective. Tone is contemplative and honest, moving from despair to fragile hope without tidy resolutions. Audiences will find it valuable for sparking discussion about lived emotional experience, empathy and the importance of connection and support, particularly in educational and community settings. Its sensitive, person-centred approach makes it a fitting contribution to the Focus on Ability festival.
Film Details
Film Transcript
Every second of sleep is a nightmare, and every waking thought — ten times the horror. Life goes on around you, but you stay still, stuck in time, trapped by the memory and the fear and the guilt. You distance yourself from those who love you most; you're isolated by your own mistrust.
You can't sleep, you can't eat, you can't look yourself in the mirror and feel anything but broken and worthless, and you hate him for it. You hate him for doing this to you, but more than that you hate yourself because you think you did it.
Some days you wake up and you feel like you're going to die. It's not that you want to kill yourself — it's that you feel like something is going to kill you. Alfie's more: some days you wake up and you feel like you're okay, but then you see someone, something, your reminder that you're not, and suddenly you're falling again.
Ellis. Slowly, slowly, things get better. You find there are ways to heal, to recover, to grow. Mountains become mole hills, and things get easier to deal with. It's never really gone, but something's help you forget, even for a little while. Eventually your confidence is restored, the people you pushed away return, you can live again, you.
Filmmaker
Otumoetai College is the filmmaker behind this entry. See every Focus on Ability entry from Otumoetai College.
Very Impressed With The Depth Of This Short Film. It Conveys Very Accurately The Aftermath Of This Type Of Assault And Is An Important Tool In Raising Awareness Around This Issue. Well Done.
Awesome To Raise Awareness Of This Issue So Sensitively.