Ayanna Shon's Christmas Hypnosis

Blaze (Julia Savage) is a 12-year-old girl living in a Paddington terrace house, the only home she has ever known. Her bedroom is in the roof space, sparsely decorated apart from a display cabinet, which contains a collection of cute china animals, in pairs. It is likely they were collected by her mother, whose absence is unexplained. Another ornament is a small white china dragon. She has an imaginary friend, a glitzy ceiling-high dragon with multiple breasts, a long snout and teeth like a crocodile's, glistening eyes the size of bowling balls, and long black lashes, which growls and breathes fire. She calls her Zephy. Luke (Simon Baker), her father, might be an architect, but is a solitary man. We see no friends or colleagues and his mother is his only confidante. He is diligent but uncomfortable in his role as a father and defensive in conversation with women. Blaze is returning from a visit to the shops via a service lane, some short distance behind Hannah (Yael Stone) and Jake (Josh Lawson), who are unaware of her presence. They were once lovers, and Jake wants to revisit that relationship but she refuses; embarrassed, Blaze hides but can still observe. Jake is insistent, then violently throws Hannah to the bitumen. She attempts to escape over a fence but he forces her against an old tree and rapes her. She falls to ground and he leaves her there. Blaze drops her ice-cream and runs home, sobbing under the blanket. Luke asks after the cause of her distress but she is mute. The sound of sirens is heard in the distance. Blaze and her father are at the police station, her phone had been found at the crime scene, so she is implicated as a possible witness; she is fingerprinted and a DNA swab taken. She is forensically examined by a woman doctor. Two weeks later she is interviewed by Jade (Rebecca Massey), an unsympathetic police psychologist, then at the committal hearing she identifies Jake as the rapist, but his counsel asks intimidating questions - implying that due to her age and naivety she can't distinguish rape from role-playing, and if she was concerned, why did she not scream for help? And have you ever told a lie? Blaze's response is filmically represented by flames from her china dragon (shown in closeup on the film's advertising material) directed at the accused and his counsel, Simmons. Luke is later informed that as an unreliable witness, Blaze's testimony has been discounted. Jake has admitted to consensual sex with Hannah, any assault must have been later, by someone else. Blaze finds Hannah's surname, Blum, from the internet, and discovers websites devoted to female attack victims. She finds Hannah's social media page, and is drawn into her life story. She adorns her wall with pictures of Hannah. The relationship between Blaze and her father is tense. He drops her off at her regular judo class - but she doesn't want to be picked up: she will return by bus. At the dojo, Blaze and her friend Anna (Sofia Hampson), who attends the same school but is a year or two older, discuss sex and virginity. On the trip home she recognizes Jake through the window and calls for the driver to stop. She screams and repeatedly pounds the window with her forehead, drawing blood. Blaze is sedated and admitted to a psychiatric clinic. She is released in the care of her father, and prescribed medication to be administered with meals. She worries that under medication she will lose her dragon Zephy. Weeks go by with no noticeable improvement, then she starts hiding the capsules in a figurine. The drugs wear off, and her torpidity turns to manic activity - hanging the figures by woolen threads, attached to the ceiling by wax which she melts with a gas lighter. Luke is furious - she could have set fire to their home. She is chastened but no longer catatonic. She returns to her judo class and vocally supported from the gallery by her father, competes bravely. When he sobs after as he hugs her, she is embarrassed. Outside the dojo, she bravely stares down a loitering adult male until he turns and walks away. Blaze and Anna discover Jake's home address, and after school a day or so later, confront him, saying "I know what I saw." His female companion is mystified; he shrugs and denies knowing what it is about. When she returns home, the photos, her laptop and china figures are gone; Luke has found the hidden capsules. She is unrepentant. Next morning she goes down to the garage, starts the car, and with a squeal of tires backs across the road, knocking down her father with the car, and causing minor damage. She is re-admitted to the psychology ward. A fellow patient is a boy who has been diagnosed with a bipolar disorder; she is comforted by sleeping alongside him. Next day she meets a counselor, a young woman with prominent tattoos and only one functioning eye; Blaze lets down her guard. The counselor candidly answers Blaze's concerns. That night she experiences he first menstrual period. In the closing scenes of the film, she is aged 13, and looking more confident. The criminal trial is about to be opened, and she has the option of giving evidence. She befriends an older boy from school; exchanging confidences, he advises her to testify and she passes to him her white china dragon. Returning home, she confidently announces to her father her decision to take the stand.