Director's Works
Pack Rat Lucy Suess
Lucy is an award-winning filmmaker based between New York City and Aotearoa New Zealand. Specialising in narrative, Lucy crafts character-driven stories with a distinct poetic voice, writing, directing, and editing her own work.
Lucy’s short films, Shadow Cut and Pack Rat, have screened at over 35 festivals including Toronto International Film Festival, Atlanta Film Festival, New Orleans Film Festival and Melbourne International Film Festival, receiving awards in directing, writing, cinematography and acting. Her films have been taught at universities and high schools across Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia.
Lucy's debut feature film, Needles Inn, is currently in development with the New Zealand Film Commission. Needles Inn was mentored by Dame Gaylene Preston as part of the NZFC’s inaugural Hunga Taunaki ā Rorohiko Mentorship Programme and was recently selected for Melbourne International Film Festival’s Accelerator Lab.
Lucy’s storytelling is heavily inspired by the formative years she spent travelling, being transient and growing up in Te Tai Tokerau. Originally from California, Lucy spent much of her childhood living around the world before moving to Aotearoa at age 12. Since graduating university she has continued to move often and travel as frequently as she can.
Pack Rat is a deeply intimate film inspired by my adolescence growing up in the rural Far North of Aotearoa New Zealand. Like the protagonist, I was very close to a group of boys yet I was also kept slightly on the outside of their pack. In this position I found danger and freedom, loneliness and love. Pack Rat is a nostalgic and cathartic love/hate letter to this time in my life — a beautifully messy, awkward, insecure age of discovery and negotiation. While told through a coming-of-age narrative, I hope Pack Rat speaks to a broad audience by exploring the universal dynamics of gender, power, belonging and the growing pains of self-acceptance.
Pack Rat was supported by the New Zealand Film Commission's He Kauahi Catalyst grant, Catch Casting and Park Road Post Production. After an extensive casting call, that brought in over 400 submissions from teens across the country, our ensemble of 7 first-time actors ranging from 13-18 years old were cast. Pack Rat was proudly made by a diverse production team on location in Aotearoa New Zealand.
