by FIlmInk Staff
When The Ground Paused has been selected for this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), where it will screen as part of the Short Cuts programme. The film marks the latest work from award-winning Australian writer-director Jess Barclay Lawton, and will be the film’s international premiere after screening for local audiences at MIFF this month.
The 14-minute documentary follows Calida, a 20-year-old mother of two, as she moves between the roles of girl, mother and daughter, each one feeling a little out of reach. Observational and poetic, When The Ground Paused is a meditation on care as both burden and possibility, and on the fragile hope of interrupting inherited cycles.
Lawton is an award-winning Australian writer-director working across documentary and narrative forms, with a focus on intimate, hybrid storytelling. Her first short film Morning Star premiered at the Locarno Film Festival, launching her work internationally. She has since screened and been awarded at multiple Academy and BAFTA-qualifying festivals including Tribeca, Sapporo, MIFF, Sydney Film Festival, Aspen and Slamdance. This selection marks Lawton’s return to TIFF after previously participating in the festival’s highly competitive filmmaker lab.
“I’m deeply grateful to be returning to TIFF, a festival that played an important role in my development as a filmmaker at a time when I was beginning to embrace a more fluid way of working between documentary and fiction. Since then, becoming a mother has changed both my life and my creative practice. It feels incredibly meaningful to be returning with a film that grew from that experience, and that centres the complexity of young motherhood with compassion.” – Jess Barclay Lawton (Director)
The film was produced by Lizzie Cater (Everyone We Know) who previously produced feature film The Greenhouse, which premiered at BFI:FLARE and short film Birdie, which premiered at TIFF and was acquired by Fox Searchlight; and Scarlett Koehne (Desire Line Films) who previously produced Series Mania Comedy Award-winning, Videoland, which reached the Top 10 Most Watched TV Series list in its Netflix debut. The team came together in 2025 to film When The Ground Paused in regional Victoria off the back of a City of Melbourne supported research project during which Lawton spent time with young mothers in the area.
“It’s so special to be heading to Toronto with this tender portrait of motherhood, by rising star Jess Bacrlay Lawton. I have long been an admirer of Jess and her sensitive approach to filmmaking, so it’s an honour to have helped bring this film into the world.” – Lizzie Cater (Producer)
“I connected with this piece intimately as a working parent pulled between my identity as a filmmaker and mother. It was a joy to support Jess’ directing process; she has such dedication to her vision and the TIFF selection speaks to this.” – Scarlett Koehne (Producer)
When The Ground Paused stars Calida Rossiter Perez, Axel Rossiter and Harleigh Rossiter with cinematography by Bonita Carzino, editing by Delaney de la Harpe, costume and production design by Hayden Relf, and sound design by Weronika Raźna.
The team will be attending TIFF, which runs from September 10 to 20 in Toronto, Canada, thanks to travel and marketing support from Screen Australia.
