Member Gillian Ashurst’s Snakeskin, originally released in 2001, opened the Made in Canterbury Festival at Isaac Theatre Royal (March 19-21).

Shot on 35mm and edited by DEGNZ member Cushla Dillon, it was the first public screening of the newly digitised film, funded by the NZFC’s Film Digitisation Programme. Gillian was present to introduce the film.

Filmed against the backdrop of the Canterbury landscape, Alice (Melanie Lynskey) and Johnny (Dean O’ Gorman) are a couple of suburban kids, cruising the highways searching for adventure, old enough to know what they’re doing – young enough to get it wrong. Their paths cross with an American cowboy in snakeskin boots, Seth (Boyd Kestner), looking for a ride. Seth takes the kiwis on the trip of their dreams, but they soon discover this snake can create nightmares, and in the heart of the Southern Alps, these kids are about to pay.

Snakeskin won five awards at the 2001 NZ Film and TV Awards, including best film.