Summerfield (1977)

2K Restoration – Australian Premiere

“★★★★ Unbelievable that this isn't talked about in the same breath as other Australian new wave classics like Picnic at Hanging Rock, Celia, even Wake in Fright.” – Letterboxd user

“Hannam handles it all with great skill, the performances — especially Elizabeth Alexander and John Waters as the sister and brother — are good, and Mike Molloy’s photography is exemplary.” – David Stratton, The International Film Guide 1979

A descendant of Wake in Fright (1971) and The Wicker Man (1973), Summerfield follows schoolteacher Simon Robinson (Nick Tate, The Devil’s Playground), who arrives in a small Victorian coastal town to take over teaching after his predecessor, Peter Flynn, inexplicably disappeared.

The locals seem strangely unperturbed by Peter’s disappearance and unsettlingly cold towards Simon. But Simon manages to at least become friendly with Jenny, who lives with her daughter Sally and twin brother David on a small private island called ‘Summerfield’.

Simon gradually starts to investigate Peter’s disappearance, desperate to make things add up. As he gets further and further entwined in the mystery, other town secrets begin to come to light, leading to dire and irreversible consequences.

This underseen Australian mystery thriller shares a writer, producer and composer with Peter Weir’s Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), and its absolutely jaw-dropping ending remains just as shocking today as it was almost 50 years ago.