Millie Lies Low (2023)
Director: Michelle Savill Run Time: 100 min. Release Year: 2022
Starring: Alice May Connolly, Ana Scotney, Chris Alosio, Cohen Holloway, Sam Cotton
Country: New Zealand
Language: English
About the film:
Best Film nominee, 2022 Berlin International Film Festival (Generation 14plus)
Millie, an architecture student from Wellington, New Zealand, has landed a competitive internship with a prestigious firm in New York. After telling everyone she knows about the opportunity, she suddenly suffers a panic attack as her plane is about to take off, and misses her flight. In a desperate pivot, Millie decides to save face by hiding in plain sight around Wellington, suitcase in tow, using Instagram and the power of denial to depict a trip to New York City that never happened.
Trapped in a spiral of hilariously uncomfortable self-inflected scenarios, Millie will have to dig deep to restore her mental health and her dignity.
“Millie Lies Low sits somewhere between the chaotic self-destruction of Fleabag and the anxious missteps of Eighth Grade”
—Veronica Phillips, Film Daze
About the filmmaker:
Michelle Savill is an award-winning director, writer and producer of film, born in the Philippines and based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. Her debut feature film Millie Lies Low (2023) had its international premiere at the 2022 Berlin International Film Festival and American premiere at the 2022 SXSW Film Festival. Her short film Ellen is Leaving (2012) won awards at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas and the San Francisco International Film Festival.
A Berlinale Talents alumna, her short films have also screened at festivals including Aspen, Rotterdam, Sydney, Edinburgh, Clermont-Ferrand and Melbourne, where she attended the MIFF Accelerator Programme. She won a script development internship at Killer Films in New York through Script-to-Screen. Her online content has amassed over two million views and has been showcased on Short of the Week and Vimeo Staff Pick Premiere.
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