Farm

Against the backdrop of rural Aotearoa, New Zealand; Jeanie is about to move from the home she’s known most of her adult life. As she comes to terms with this change, she begins to believe a cow on her farm is the reincarnation of her dead husband.

FARM is a story about where we belong.

FARM’s hero is Jeanie, a sparky 70 year old, who is now facing life in a retirement home. Even while aching with pain over the death of her soulmate Jimmy; Jeanie has an exuberance and lease on life that is entirely her own.

In her home, on the edge of the family’s land, surrounded by images of her life, Jeanie’s sense of reality is increasingly fractured, and a lack of desire to abandon her home accelerates her relationship with the cows, and one in particular, has the careful, warmth, humour and spirit of Jimmy. Daughter Liv is trying to help her mum move into an assisted living situation, while navigating her own grief and her mother’s early dementia. As the lines between memory and hallucination start to blur, the bond Jeanie feels with the cow becomes a source of comfort, naughtiness and connection.

After hiding in the shed, building a living room in the barn, and facing off against her loving, well meaning family; Jeanie makes a final break for it, choosing to spend the last moments on the farm as the cheeky rebel Jimmy fell in love with. Dashing into the paddock with a cow in tow, Jeanie’s the hero of her own story, and in her defiance, we see a woman who will live by her own set of rules till the day she dies.

FARM is an ode to memories, the elderly and the ideology of home. It is about what we choose to hold onto. A gentle black comedy encountering grief, dementia, reincarnation, and the complexities of family. It asks whether we can truly let go of those we love—or if they will always find a way to come back to us, no matter the form.