Whatever the Weather Trailer (2016)

Trailer for the documentary Whatever the Weather.

In this sensitive animated movie, Wally looks back at her childhood with an alcoholic mother. In voice-over, she tells the story of how as an eight-year-old she made herself as small and invisible as she could, and how her needs were crushed by the monster of addiction. The roles of mother and child were reversed, as it was the children who gave their mother food and protection. Fear was a constant presence, and Wally often looked in the bedroom to see if her mother was still alive. Though Wally hadn't said a word at school for a year, nobody noticed, and no help came from the outside world. She was terribly ashamed of what went on behind her front door. Her mother regularly kicked her out of the house, so she had to look after herself, “whatever the weather.” Unable to understand why her mother didn’t simply stop drinking, she grew increasingly despondent. Her story of survival, as related in this student film from the Lucerne School of Art and Design, is set in the one place where a child should feel safe: her own home.