Part comedy, part tragedy, and all heart, Holy Days is writer-director Nat Boltt’s heartfelt drama about three nuns and a young boy on a road trip that could save more than just their convent.
Ten years in the making, the film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2025 and arrives in Canadian theatres this weekend with stars Judy Davis, Miriam Margolyes, Jacki Weaver, alongside rising star Elijah Tamati.
Tamati plays Brian, a young boy devastated by the death of his mother. Through the convent, and the three elderly nuns, he’s found a place where he feels safe. When Sister Mary Clare, Sister Luke, and Sister Agnes–played by Davis, Margolyes, and Weaver, respectively–are forced to set off on a road trip with a hope and a prayer to save their home, he begs to join them.
The adventure more than a few bumps along the way, and they end up breaking a law or two on the road to New Zealand’s Mount Cook. They just have to see if what they find there will save the convent, and answer doubts in Brian’s heart, too.
“It was a joy to work with Nat, not only has she got a lot of nous,” Weaver said, “she’s a highly intelligent woman, and she’s also got the sensibilities of an actor, so she knows that we go about our job and, she’s very equable and sweet tempered. It was a joy.”
“How could it have been any better,” Margolyes said. “I’m very grateful that she was with us all the way, the writer, directing, and acting. She knows what she’s doing, and she does it very well, and it was a wonderful experience.”
The three women had a lot of praise for Tamati, throughout the whole production.
Margolyes admitted that she normally doesn’t like children, “I was rather kind of appalled to think that I was going to have to sit next to this kid all the time, but he was terrific,” she said. “And he was very kind to me. He was thoughtful and would carry things.”
“I thought he did terrific work,” she added. “I really thought he was marvellous, and his mum, who played his mum in the film, she was a very remarkable woman… we cared about him and we tried to make it easy for him because it’s a bit scary for a kid, and he got tired sometimes. It was a testing physical experience, but he was a dear.”
Margolyes admitted that she questions her work all the time, and won’t even watch her own films because she only sees the problems in her performances, but Tamati was always reassuring her.
“He was very generous with his reassurance of Miriam, of her acting,” Weaver said. “He would say things like, ‘Don’t stress, you’re a great actor.'”
Watch the full interview with Nat Boltt, Miriam Margolyes, and Jacki Weaver above to hear more about making Holy Days.
Set photo by Dean MacKenzie.
