Film

Caterpillar

2026 · 1h 37m · Drama

When memory begins to fade, love is put to the test.

Three generations living under one leaky Wellington roof in 2003, all on the brink of transformation. Sixteen-year-old Cassie is all bravado and vulnerability, drifting into risky territory as she searches for validation in all the wrong places. Her mother Maxine, 52, a formidable single-mother filmmaker on the brink of a long-awaited breakthrough, is finally offered a greenlight - if she can just land a star. Holding everything together is Huia, Cassie’s grandmother, 80, whose life has been defined by quiet service to family and a private obsession with raising monarch caterpillars, dreaming of one day witnessing the legendary butterfly migration in Mexico. But when Huia’s mind begins to fail her, the family is thrust into chaos. Can the maternal line hold together while everything is throwing them apart?

Marta Dusseldorp

Maxine

Lisa Harrow

Huia

Anais Shand

Cassie

Kirimaia Noel

Awhi

Matt Whelan

Cam

Matty Rockel

Mason

Tanea Heke

Cohen Holloway

Tara Canton

Waitress

• Chelsie Preston CrayfordDirector · Writer
• Georgina Allison ConderProducer
• Andrew MarshallProducer
• Jonathan Woodford-RobinsonEditor

Caterpillar - Official Trailer

Release date

May 14, 2026

Status

Released

Original language

English

Runtime

1h 37m

Rated

M

Genres

Drama