Trial Run

Rosemary Edmonds (Annie Whittle) is a photographer, mother and middle-distance runner. A project photographing the rare yellow-eyed penguin sends her to a remote Otago cottage. On arrival odd happenings become increasingly menacing. Rosemary refuses to be intimidated. But events escalate, sending her running from her unknown assailant to the phone box for help in the race of her life. Bird-watching, stranger danger and feminist film theory line up for a time trial in Melanie Read's first feature, for which 20 of the 29-strong production crew were women. Marathon champ Allison Roe — who trained Whittle for the film — makes a brief cameo.