An anxiety-inducing knockout from first-time feature director Michelle Savill, in which a young woman misses a flight and digs herself a very deep, very funny hole.

To her friends, Millie (Ana Scotney, Cousins, The Breaker Upperers) is about to be living the dream: she has an internship lined up at a prestigious New York architecture firm, and she’s at Wellington airport, ready to board her flight to the Big Apple. But a moment of panic causes Millie to miss her flight and – too broke to afford another ticket – she decides to fool everyone into thinking she’s in NYC … with increasingly farcical results.

For her feature film debut, New Zealand director and MIFF Accelerator Lab alumna Savill (Bats, MIFF 2018; Betty Banned Sweets, MIFF 2008) draws on elements of her own life to whip up a nerve-racking scenario that feels all too plausible, as Millie – played to superbly manic, sometimes Machiavellian effect by Scotney – tries to save face and convince her friends, family and followers of her fantasy life. Smart, character-driven and confoundingly hilarious, Millie Lies Low will make you cringe and laugh in equal measure.

“Millie Lies Low sits somewhere between the chaotic self-destruction of Fleabag and the anxious missteps of Eighth Grade.” – Film Daze