Gwen

William McGregor : 2018

In the stark beauty of 19th century Wales a young girl tries desperately to hold her home together. Struggling with her mother's mysterious illness, her father's absence and a ruthless mining company encroaching on their land. A growing darkness begins to take grip of her home, and the suspicious local community turns on Gwen and her family. Gwen lives on a farm in the hills of Snowdonia with her mother, Elen and little sister Mari. Like nearly all the local men, Gwen's father is away at war. Elen, Gwen, and Mari must already maintain a punishing work schedule to keep the farm going, but they are plagued by one ominous occurrence after another, as well as by a town that begins to become suspicious of their behaviour. A neighbouring family perishes from cholera; potatoes are rotting in the soil; Elen becomes ill and there is no money for medicine. And their sheep – someone has slaughtered every one of their sheep. Who could possibly wish such misfortune on this humble family? William McGregor's feature debut premiered in the Discovery section at Toronto International Film Festival 2018.