Richard Swainson

NZ Animated version of the Stephen King Story - Stella Flanders has never left Koati Island in her 95 years. Afflicted by illness and a brutal winter, she starts to see the ghosts of her dead loved ones, including her late husband Bill. When the reach between the island and the mainland freezes over, she finds herself lured on to make the crossing once before she passes away.

When the Cows Come Home introduces audiences to Tilly and Maggie, a pair of cows that musician, journalist, artist and cow whisperer, Andrew Johnstone has befriended and subsequently saved from slaughter. The garrulous herdsman is enthusiastic to expound his views on animal husbandry, bovine communication and the vagaries of life in general, before the film walks us back through the events that have shaped the singular farmer-philosopher. From personal family tragedy to warring with Catholic school authorities, innovating in Hamilton’s nascent music scene to creating guerrilla art installations; Johnstone’s life has had a truly idiosyncratic trajectory. Mental health issues may have seen him retreat to life on the farm, but the film makes clear its subject’s restless inquisitiveness is far from being put out to pasture.