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Going Home

To celebrate the adventurous life of her late Uncle Clive, Ashley takes a leap of faith and learns to fly.

A decade after his death, Ashley takes off on an emotional journey of reconnection. Following in her Uncle’s larger-than-life footsteps, she wants to do one of the things he loved most, fly like a bird. Can his memory instill Ashley with the courage she needs to reignite her zest for life, and understand his?

  • Ashley Williams
    Director
    Super Special
  • Ruth Korver
    Producer
  • Ashley Williams
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Runtime:
    8 minutes 45 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    August 19, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    12,000 NZD
  • Country of Origin:
    New Zealand
  • Country of Filming:
    New Zealand
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    DCP
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
Distribution Information
  • Loading Docs
    Distributor
    Country: New Zealand
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Ashley Williams

Ashley is a New Zealand filmmaker based in Wellington. Her films are gritty, real, soulful and show hope. Ashley has mainly worked in drama, fantasy and places in-between. She uses strong female leads and believes film is able to offer a future zeitgeist. Her focus is heavily driven by emotion and performance and finding human truths in her stories. Last year she made a short film ‘Super Special’ for the on-line 2019 Someday series which reached half a million views in a week. In 2017 she made a Super-8 film in one week with one reel and no editing and won the ‘Super8x8’ challenge and was awarded best regional female director by Gaylene Preston in the 48-hour film competition the same year. More recently she interned under director Sam Kelly supported by the NZFC, for his upcoming feature ‘Savage’.

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Director Statement

The inspiration for Going Home came from my uncle Clive. Some people say I was brave to fly. I tell them my uncle Clive was the one that had courage.

He was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer at the age of 50. He had no choice about dying. But he made a choice about how and when he wanted to die.

The day before he died he told me to choose one thing in life and to do it well. I chose filmmaking. My art and my work is about process and is not just an outcome. Making films can be very exposing because as a director I am creating and growing in the public eye. The film Going Home is an exploration of all of this, while also being an opportunity to heal and achieve something uplifting in Clive’s memory - today - with a dash of fun. Just like Clive. It is a vulnerable exposé of myself, and has also given me an opportunity to move forward with renewed inspiration and a deeper understanding of why I am who I am.

Clive reminds us all that we are only human, and that death is a part of life too. He taught me that a powerful life comes from the choices we make in response to the cards we are dealt: that it is very much about how we choose to live it, rather than what we are given. As he wrote in his last letter to us “Take care, and don’t put off taking those little adventures along the road, sometimes life only gives us one chance.”

Clive taught me life is about the little adventures along the way. And that there is so much out of my control. There will always be a possibility the wind might change and so for the days you can, you fly! And oh, how I flew. Up there, amongst the clouds, I realised this was it! Why I had to do this. I needed to feel what it was to fly. To feel that freedom. To be the bird. And that forever changed me.

I understood a little more about what it must have been like for him to have been caged in his bed looking out the window at the wind moving the clouds. To know it was a perfect day to fly, or just go for a walk, but not be able to. That when you’re this close to dying, surely you know a thing or two about living. Clive was always the wise one.

Through Clive’s life and his decision on how he died, when he had only days to live, I hope viewers consider those that no longer have a choice.

My hope is that if I ever face terminal illness I can do it with as much courage and grace as my uncle Clive did. I also hope I will have a choice that affords me the dignity I deserve.

Ashley Williams
Writer/Director of Going Home