Dream Sequence: Rosemary Myers' Girl Asleep and Cinematic Coming of Age

Like its Windmill Theatre stageplay predecessor, the screen adaptation of Girl Asleep dramatises the difficult process of leaving childhood behind while gaining maturity, seen through the eyes of a teenage protagonist. In conversation with director Rosemary Myers and writer/actor Matthew Whittet, Elizabeth Flux examines how the global success of this offbeat, whimsical film – with its quirky plot, 1970s setting and stylised scenes – epitomises a refreshing, alternative pathway for Australian cinema.

Additional keywords: nostalgia, seventies, suburbia, adolescence, puberty, bullying, escapism, fantasy, South Australian Film Corporation, SAFC, comedy.