Bring Her Back

Danny Philippou and his brother Michael Philippou left a Street Fighter adaptation after Talk to Me and made this instead. The story follows step siblings, not siblings: when their father dies, Andy and his visually impaired stepsister Piper go to a foster mother, Laura, who already keeps a boy who has stopped speaking. Sora Wong, who plays Piper, was 14 and had never acted; her mother found a Facebook casting call seeking an actor with a visual impairment and she auditioned. Wong’s sight is limited by coloboma and microphthalmia. Shooting finished in 41 days in South Australia with a largely local crew. For the kitchen scenes the knife was foam and the countertop was filled with chocolate so it would break into soft pieces resembling splinters; Danny Philippou made part of the sound himself by biting a real knife. At the 15th AACTA Awards on 6 February 2026 it took more prizes than anything else, 10 in all, among them best film, best direction and best lead actress for Sally Hawkins. A good fit if you want the fear sourced in grief and obligation and do not mind waiting to learn what the ritual is for. Not for anyone who cannot sit through harm to children and scenes of self injury; the kitchen sequences with Oliver are the clearest case.