PRAYERS ANSWERED AS CHURCH CITY AUDS FLOCK TO ADELAIDE FILM FESTIVAL

The 2022 Adelaide Film Festival (AFF) has wrapped with the news that the 12-day event achieved a new box office and audience attendance record.

With audience attendance up 13% from the last AFF in 2020 (also a record result) and box office 56% up on the last pre-pandemic festival in 2018, the newly-annualised Festival’s expansion into multiple venues across Adelaide has proven to be a resounding success.

Ahead of Sunday’s Closing Night screening of Michael Philippou and Daniel Philippou’s debut feature Talk to Me, CEO & Creative Director Mat Kesting (pictured, right) announced that director Sinem Saban’s Luku Ngarra, which had its World Premiere at AFF 2022, won the Change Award. Bestowed upon works that inspire positive social or environmental impact and cinema expressing new directions for humanity, Luku Ngarra is an unflinching, Indigenous-funded documentary on the history and culture of Arnhem Land, seen through the eyes of one of Australia’s most respected Indigenous elders and traditional lawmen, Rev Dr Djiniyini Gondarra OAM. 

The winner of the Flinders University Short Film Prize was announced as Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund film Are You Really The Universe (pictured, below), directed by Tamara Hardman and starring Tilda Cobham-Hervey. The Audience Award for Feature Fiction goes to Ribspreader, directed by Adelaide’s Dick Dale, and The Last Daughter, co-directed by Nathaniel Schmidt and Brenda Matthews, has won the Audience Award for Feature Documentary.

Previously announced were the two Jury determined awards. The AFF Feature Fiction Award 2022 was presented to Indonesian feature film Autobiography, with a $10,000 cash prize awarded to director Makbul Mubarak, and the AFF Feature Documentary Award went to The Hamlet Syndrome, with a $10,000 cash prize awarded to directors Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosolowski. The directors have since announced they are to donate the prize money to their film’s Ukrainian subjects, who are fighting in the war against Russia.

Kesting noted that the surge in attendance is a clear indication that the theatrical experience and a dedication to film culture is alive and well in South Australia. “Audiences embraced the AFF program and demonstrated a clear desire to go out to the cinema. The record-breaking box office and attendance results reaffirm the desire to see films in cinemas and engage with courageous filmmaking,” he said.

“An extraordinary cross section of work from around the world was presented, including a remarkable crop of new films from South Australia. We congratulate all the filmmakers [and] are proud to have supported numerous directorial debuts within the festival,” Kesting pointed out, referencing the AFFIF feature investment films Talk to Me; Sean Lahiff’s Carnifex; Matt Vesely’s Monolith; The Last Daughter, from co-directors Brenda Matthews and Nathaniel Schmidt; and, Madeline Parry’s The Angels: Kickin’ Down the Door. (Pictured, right; director  Sinem Saban and Rev Dr Djiniyini Gondarra OAM, from Luku Ngarra)

“The AFF’s 2022 results demonstrate why the South Australian Government has decided to invest $2 million to help annualise and expand the program,” declared S.A. Arts Minister Andrea Michaels in response to the festival’s success. “Congratulations to the entire Adelaide Film Festival team on these outstanding results. They have demonstrated that the event is a huge drawcard, not only for audiences, but also for film industry creatives globally.”

NEXTWAVE HONOUREES ANNOUNCED AT SWIFF GALA CEREMONY

The culmination of a year-long search for Australia’s freshest filmmaking minds unfolded yesterday at the Screenwave International Film Festival (SWIFF), with the award ceremony for the Nextwave Youth Film Festival taking place in the heart of Coffs Harbour, hosted by actor and Toormina High alumni, Nick Hardcastle.

Drawn from over 60 short films submitted by regional student filmmakers aged 10-25, a final roster of 22 finalists were screened at the C.Ex Auditorium for the nominees and their families, as well as representatives from the primary, secondary and tertiary institutions in the running for the highly-coveted trophies. (Pictured, above; a still from Nextwave finalist What's Next, directed by Francoise Dik) 

In the 10-14 age bracket, Best Film honours went to The Beach, a eerie, monochromatic moodpiece directed by and starring Lachlan Beck and Michaela Forbes and produced at St Columba Anglican College, Port Macquarie. Honours in the 15-17 years category went to Brain Storm, a meta-rich take on the filmmaking process, which took out Best Film and Best Script trophies for creatives Ben Rosenberg and Lawson Booth of Toowoomba Grammar School. In the 18-25 groups, the home invasion thriller Come Downstairs (pictured, right), directed by Brayden Cureton of Toowoomba Christian College, earned the Best Film nod.

The People’s Choice award, voted for by those attending the screening ceremony, went to the joyous celebration of seaside teen life, The Perfect Day in Isolation, directed by Jonah Werner and Toby Hill out of Macksville High School. The coastal odyssey also earned a SWIFF Commendation, as did director Sophie Bagstar of Oxley High School for her dramatic supernatural thriller, Devour.   

In other key categories, the Matrix-like actioner Rural Quest (pictured, right), produced by the trio of William Butler, Jack Morgan and Dylan Mann of St Paul’s College Kempsey, scored Best Cinematography and Best Editing gongs; Kaelyn Ward won Best Director for her haunted-home mystery, The Switch; Best Actor honours went to Felix Kneebone for Willow Driver’s man-child comedy, I Don’t Want to Play Anymore; and, Aaron Bruggeman won Best Sound for his workplace fantasy, Day Dreamer.

The Young Regional Filmmaker Award is one of the most sought-after Nextwave honours, recognised throughout the film industry as a key stepping-stone towards sector acceptance. In 2020, that honour went to Rylee Parry, an 18-25 category nominee, for her directorial effort Remember The Waltzing, Matilda. Runner-up in the category was Jordan Frith, represented by the dreamlike drama, Feeling Lost.

In 2020, the Nextwave mentoring and training program shifted from in-person workshops to a dedicated online film education portal, hosted at nextwavefilm.com.au. The 2021 competition was officially opened by SWIFF Festival Directors Kate Howat and Dave Horsley, with the competition once again to be overseen by Program Director Saige Brown. Heads up, filmmakers - this year’s condition-of-entry component is ‘pineapple’, dictating the tropical fruit or some variation thereof must appear in your submission.

In a first for the Nextwave finalists, it was announced that 11 films, each exhibiting a key genre thematic element - sci-fi, horror, thriller or fantasy - would be granted automatic entry into the 2021 Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival. A full list of the films selected to screen November 4-13 in Sydney can be found at the festival's Facebook page here.   

FIVE AUSTRALIAN FILMMAKERS SECURE SXSW SLOTS

The South By Southwest Film Festival, the annual indie sector mecca set deep in the heart of Texas, has picked five Australian works amongst its 2021 line-up. The diverse range of films, including three by women directors and two steeped in indigenous culture, will launch March 16 as part of the online roster of official selections.

The Aussie contingent are part of the 75 features in the program, including 57 World Premieres, three International Premieres, four North American Premieres, one U.S. Premiere, and 53 films from first-time filmmakers. In addition to the features line-up, 84 short films will unfold including music videos, five episodic Premieres and six episodic pilots. Highlighting the festival progressive ethos, twenty Virtual Cinema projects will screen and fourteen title design entries will be considered in competition.

The Australian films in the SXSW mix are: 

NARRATIVE SPOTLIGHT
THE DROVERS WIFE: THE LEGEND OF MOLLY JOHNSON (Director/Screenwriter: Leah Purcell, Producers: Bain Stewart, David Jowsey, Angela Littlejohn, Greer Simpkin, Leah Purcell) A reimagining of Leah Purcell’s acclaimed play and Henry Lawson’s classic short story. A searing Australian western thriller asking the question: how far do you go to protect your loved ones? With Purcell in the lead role, she is joined by Rob Collins, Sam Reid, Jessica De Gouw and Malachi Dower-Roberts. “To be following in the footsteps of the amazing films and filmmakers that have gone before me is humbling,” said Purcell, via a Screen Australia press release. “As an Indigenous Australian woman and filmmaker, I am proud to be sharing a story that literally has mine and my family's DNA all over it and to be able to share our cultural practise as storytellers through film to the world.”

24 BEATS PER SECOND
UNDER THE VOLCANO (Director: Gracie Otto, Screenwriters: Cody Greenwood, Gracie Otto, Ian Shadwell, Producers: Cody Greenwood, Richard Harris) The story of George Martin’s AIR Studios Montserrat and the island that changed music forever, Otto’s documentary features interviews with Sting, Mark Knopfler, Nick Rhodes, Jimmy Buffett, Verdine White, Tony Lommi, Stewart Copeland, Guy Fletcher, Midge Ure, and Roger Glover. Producer Cody Greenwood said, “The festival is universally recognised for its music documentaries, so to have Under The Volcano premiere at this festival is a huge honour. Our whole team worked tremendously hard to pull the film together and I can’t wait for it to be shared with audiences.” (Pictured, above: Andy Summers and Sting in Under The Volcano. Photo credit: Danny Quatrochi)

MIDNIGHT SHORTS
THE MOOGAI (Director/Screenwriter: Jon Bell) An Aboriginal psychological horror, The Moogai is the story of a family terrorized by a child-stealing spirit. In a statement following his selection, Bell said, “The festival pulls from a number of mediums and speaks to multiple disciplines. I think The Moogai will find an audience with the patrons of SXSW because they’re up for the kind of story we’re telling. A story of loss from an Indigenous point of view. There are many similarities between Australian Aboriginal and Native American connection to country and the clash of cultures with the western world that I think it will feel familiar and foreign to American audiences.” After receiving impressive accolades locally, including an AACTA Award 2020 nomination for Best Short Film and winning the Erwin Rado Award for Best Audience Short Film at Melbourne International Film Festival 2020, The Moogai will make it’s international premiere at SXSW. (Pictured, above: Shari Stebbens in The Moogai)

MUSIC VIDEO COMPETITION 
JULIA STONE - 'BREAK' (Director/Screenwriter: Jessie Hill) Award-winning Australian folk singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Julia Stone’s latest clip, directed by Jessie Hill. (See the full clip below)

VIRTUAL CINEMA COMPETITION
OF HYBRIDS AND STRINGS (Australia, France, Germany; Director: Lauren Moffat, Producer: Fabbula) Of Hybrids and Strings is a fabulatory immersion into possible human and non-human connectedness. In a forest, at night, one becomes strangely entangled to plants and creatures. Until the forest starts to crystallize…  "With Of Hybrids and Strings, I wanted to create a science-fiction-like experience, but without forcing people into a particular perspective," says Moffat on the film's website. "I wanted to construct a speculative narrative that would shift classic science-fiction themes—such as environmental disorders—by thinking them outside all preconceptions." (World Premiere) (Pictured, above: Moffat's 'Hybrid Flowers' from Of Hybrids and Strings)

Register for SXSW Online 2021: From March 16-20, experience conference sessions and keynotes addresses, music showcases, film screenings, exhibitions, networking events, mentor sessions, professional development, and more, all in a digital setting.

BREAK by Julia Stone; directed by Jessie Hill.

BABYTEETH TAKES BITE OUT OF TRANSILVANIA F.F. AWARD ROSTER

Australian director Shannon Murphy’s striking debut feature Babyteeth, featuring a star-solidifying turn by actress Eliza Scanlen (pictured, below), continues its award-winning festival circuit run with two top awards courtesy of the 2020 Transilvania International Film Festival (TIFF). The winners of the 19th annual gathering were announced last Sunday, August 9, at an outdoor event in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

Selected from 12 debut or follow-up features from around the world, Murphy’s (pictured, below) fiercely original coming-of-age story earned the ‘Transilvania Trophy’ for Best Film. The top honour was voted for by an all-Romanian jury, a first for the event in the wake of an enforced COVID-19 restructure. 

Babyteeth also won the highly-coveted Audience Award ahead of a particularly strong line-up that included Tim Mielants’ Patrick (Belgium) and Zheng Lu Xinyuan’s The Cloud in Her Room (China), whose helmers shared Best Director honours; Nigina Sayfullaeva’s Fidelity (Russia), which secured leading lady Evgeniya Gromova the gender-neutral Best Acting trophy; and, Svetla Tsotsorkova’s Sister (a Bulgarian/Qatari co-production), the winner of a Special Jury Prize.

 In his first Australian feature in nine years, Ben Mendelsohn stars alongside Essie Davis as Henry and Anna Finlay, the overprotective parents of gravely sick Milla (Eliza Scanlen). When their daughter becomes enamored with a local drug dealer (Toby Wallace) and begins living her waning life to its fullest potential, Henry and Anna’s life takes on a newly energized perspective.

Even by the limited opportunities presented in the truncated 2020 festival calendar, Screen Australia and production partners Spectrum Films, Jan Chapman Films and Whitefalk Films are filling their trophy cabinets with Babyteeth accolades. It has earned Shannon Murphy festival honours in Luxembourg, Palm Springs, Pingyao, São Paulo and Zurich; screenwriter Rita Kalnejais took out a Screenplay Jury Prize at the Portugese event, FEST; and, cast members Scanlen and Wallace (pictured, left) have statuettes in the mail coming from Venice and Marrakech festival organisers.

Babyteeth is currently in release in Australian cinemas via Universal Pictures Australia; with other territories to follow.

MENDO'S BABYTEETH LEAVES IMPRESSION ON VENICE SELECTORS

The project credited with bringing acting legend Ben Mendelsohn back home for the first time in nine years has secured the Australian industry’s only feature film placement at the 2019 Venice Film Festival. Director Shannon Murphy’s Babyteeth, a bittersweet rom-com/drama about a seriously ill teenage girl and the drug dealer she falls for, will face off against new works from Brad Pitt, Roman Polanski, Scarlett Johansson, Olivier Assayas, Joaquin Phoenix and Steven Soderbergh on The Lido in the prestigious festival’s In Competition strand.

Adapted by Rita Kalnejais’ from her own hit play and representing the debut feature for experienced television helmer Murphy, Babyteeth was produced by Alex White and executive produced by Oscar-nominated producer Jan Chapman (The Piano, 1993). Australian distribution was picked up by Universal Pictures Australia as part of their acquisition of Entertainment One (eOne); international sales are through Celluloid Dreams.

The Venice selection marks a stellar debut for White’s development and production company Whitefalk Films, who launched their feature slate with Babyteeth after the success of their shorts Trespass (Best Australian Short Film, MIFF 2017) and Florence Has Left the Building (Best Short Film, Australian Academy of Cinema & Television Arts Awards 2015). Also on board as financing entities are Screen Australia in association with Create NSW, WeirAnderson.com and Spectrum Films.

Mendelsohn (pictured, top) stars opposite Essie Davis as Henry and Anna Finlay, the over-protective parents of gravely sick Milla (Eliza Scanlen). When their daughter becomes enamored with a local drug dealer (Toby Wallace) and begins living her waning life to its fullest potential, Henry and Anna’s life takes on a newly energized perspective.

Babyteeth is the latest high-profile project for 20 year-old Scanlen (pictured, right), who scored big opposite Amy Adams in the mini-series Sharp Objects and will next be seen as ‘Beth March’ in Greta Gerwig’s fresh look at Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, alongside Timothée Chalamet, Meryl Streep, Emma Watson and Saoirse Ronan.

Also set to premiere at Venice is the short The Diver, from directors Michael Leonard and Jamie Helmer, as well as two virtual reality short films - Callum Cooper's Porton Down and the migrant experience vision, Passenger, from co-directors Isobel Knowles and Van Sowerwine.

While Babyteeth is the only Australian feature to earn a screening berth at Venice (and one of only two films in competition that are directed by women), other homegrown talent Lido-bound include director David Michod, who will debut his latest Netflix-backed title The King, and Nicole Kidman, co-star of Stanley Kubrick’s 1999 work Eyes Wide Shut, which will feature as a Special Screening alongside Matt Wells’ doco Never Just a Dream: Stanley Kubrick And Eyes Wide Shut.

The full list of the 2019 Venice Film Festival’s IN COMPETITION titles are:

The Truth (Kore-eda Hirokazu; France/Japan) – OPENING FILM
The Perfect Candidate (Haifaa Al-Mansour; Saudi Arabia/Germany)
About Endlessness (Roy Andersson; Sweden)
Wasp Network (Olivier Assayas; France/Belgium)
Marriage Story (Noah Baumbach; U.S.)
Guest of Honor (Atom Egoyan; Canada)
Ad Astra (James Gray; U.S.)
A Herdade (Tiago Guedes; Portugal/France)
Gloria Mundi (Robert Guediguian; France)
Waiting for the Barbarians (Ciro Guerra; Italy)
Ema, (Pablo Larrain; Chile)
Saturday Fiction (Lou Ye; China)
Martin Eden (Pietro Marcello; Italy/France/Germany)
La Mafia non è più quella di Una Volta (Franco Maresco; Italy)
The Painted Bird (Vaclav Marhoul; Czech Republic)
The Mayor of Rione Sanità (Mario Martone; Italy/France)
Babyteeth (Shannon Murphy; Australia)
Joker (Todd Philips; U.S.)
An Officer and a Spy (Roman Polanski; France)
The Laundromat (Steven Soderbergh; U.S.)
No. 7 Cherry Lane (Yonfan; China)

THE GENTLEMAN G.M. GUIDING CINEMA GIANT'S NEW WAVE OF OLD FILMS

For Australia’s 108 year-old exhibition giant EVENT Cinemas, programming screen content beyond the core ‘studio blockbuster’ releases is now a priority. The man in charge of helping to redefine the viewing experience at the chain’s national multiplex locations is Anthony Kierann, General Manager of Film Festivals. The jewel in his crown is the hugely successful In The House retrospective seasons, which have introduced a new generation of filmgoers to such pop culture touchstones as The Dark Crystal, Stand by Me, Scarface, The Thing and Die Hard. The 2019 season of nine films kicks off March 11 with the 1983 Stallone classic, First Blood, and will include the De Niro/Pacino thriller Heat (March 25), Winona Ryder in Heathers (May 27) and the Gen-X teen classic, Pretty in Pink (July 8).

At the Sydney head office of Event Hospitality and Entertainment, the charismatic, passionately film-focused Kierann (pictured, above: with director Gillian Armstrong, left, and critic Margaret Pomeranz) sat with SCREEN-SPACE to discuss his role, the company’s alternative programming objectives and the second season of Hollywood Classics, his retro-strand from cinema’s golden years. Chatting movies as we settle in a meeting room, he observes, “At my age, cinema has enriched my life and given me so much”…   

SCREEN-SPACE: What philosophies, as both an EVENT executive and a lover of film culture and programming, do you adhere to in your role?

KIERANN: EVENT Entertainment is a company that celebrates big films, the blockbusters, which we are well known for, in auditoriums that provide great sound, great comfort, great imagery. I think it is also important, as part of our goals as an exhibition company, to speak to a generation watching movies today that haven’t seen some of the greatest movies ever made; movies that are part of this company's history. So the challenge was to bring people back to the cinema and celebrate that rare kind of storytelling that [provides] an amazing community experience. Part of our mission statement is to bring more people together for those universal stories that tell us about life. And we know that that experience is not always going to be provided by the films of today. We need to look to the films of the 60s or the 70s where there were different social conditions, revolutionary thinking in reaction to the real world, things that teach people. One of the greatest joys I’ve had is watching families come together – a father bringing a son, a mother bringing a daughter – and saying, ‘You must see this on the big screen.’” (Pictured, above; Event Cinemas George Street site)

SCREEN-SPACE: There is no denying that the retrospective seasons, while servicing the film buff, also serve to re-energise audience demographics that don’t go to the movies that much…

KIERANN: Absolutely, 100%. We have a series of obligations. One, as a business, we need to bring people back to the cinema, to be commercially viable. We need to come up with as many ways possible to get patrons back in our theatres, patrons who won’t come out for the next huge Disney or Roadshow film. So, yes, retrospectives play that function, but it has to be about more than just bringing old films back. It is bringing them back in a manner that celebrates them, be that by our hosting, the theming, the key artwork, social media messaging; components that celebrate those stories. Our programming needs to be eclectic, so that it serves both our commercial needs and the greater social role that film and film-going still plays. We do that through not just the retrospective programming but also the film festivals we host, those celebrations of film culture that I think are so important.

SCREEN-SPACE: In The House celebrates pop-culture titles, which in retro-cinema terms means programming beloved but often-revived films like Alien (April 8) and Pulp Fiction (July 22). Are there plans for more esoteric, little-seen film classics?

KIERANN: When we’ve built an established audience that knows we are programming diverse material, we’ll do that, but we have to build that audience. The ‘pop culture’ themed In Your House sessions are a great way for us to tap into the ‘Event audience’. So that when we do program a Jim Jarmusch film, let’s say, or some very early Scorsese or De Palma work, which is a dream of mine, we are in a position where the audience has been primed for that sort of programming and we can launch with confidence. The way we move forward to that stage is via a program like Hollywood Classics, which we started last year. Our second season will feature 12 Angry Men, The Red Shoes, Calamity Jane The Apartment, Terms of Endearment (pictured, right), those kinds of films, which I think lead us down the path of more thought-provoking, character-driven cinema. It is a sensitive, moderate way for us to step towards a deeper, film-history focussed retro-program. That is certainly my vision.

SCREEN-SPACE: Event George Street is equipped for Digital Cinema Package, or DCP projection, correct? Has that dictated the films you screen? 

KIERANN: We screen everything on DCP, so there have been some programming choices we haven’t been able to screen. We’ve tried to screen from Blu-ray before, but had issues; a session of the anime classic Akira had a line thru the image that we had no control over, so after that we decided on DCP or not at all. We have a responsibility to our audience to screen the best version of a film we can. So we speak to the distributors and try to convince them to convert to and provide DCPs, which is when everyone looks at things fiscally and decisions are made. But there are 100s of films I’d love to screen that I’ve lined up well into the future.

SCREEN-SPACE: For years, Sydney had a great revival-screening culture at sites like The Mandolin or The Valhalla at Glebe. Is part of your role to reposition the George Street centre as a new mecca for nostalgic film buffs?

KIERANN: We are definitely undertaking a process to reposition the George Street complex as more than just the home of the latest blockbuster, absolutely. We need to be competitive, it’s as simple as that. That’s the landscape; if we don’t do it, people will go to see the alternative films at Palace or The Chauvel. What’s interesting is that where [Palace and Dendy] owned that space many years ago, they now screen the latest blockbusters. We’re engaged in this balancing act; everyone knows that there is a wider need for a greater range of films than ever before. We think we are exhibiting a willingness to be business savvy, to realise the needs of the audience, and the immensely successful In The House sessions speak to that. The Hollywood Classics had an incredible launch last year, so a second season was assured. And further to your question, George Street is our Sydney base, but the In Your House programming is playing at around 30 sites nationally, which is very exciting for us.

Event Cinema's 2019 HOLLYWOOD CLASSICS Program begins March 4 with the Doris Day classic, Calamity Jane; IN THE HOUSE 2019 sessions launch March 11. For full ticketing and session details go to the Event Cinemas website.

AUSTRALIAN FILMS UNITED AT 2019 MANCHESTER FILM FESTIVAL

Two features and a wave of short films will represent the Australian film sector at the 5^th Manchester International Film Festival (MANIFF), launching March 2 at the Odeon Cinemas in the north-west metropolis’ iconic Great Northern Railway Warehouse centre.

Expanding to a week-long celebration for the first time in its history, MANIFF will host the U.K. premiere of Heath Davis’ bittersweet dramatic-comedy Book Week, which has benefitted from a strong grass-roots marketing campaign and independent release strategy in its homeland.

For Davis (pictured, right), the MANIFF acceptance of his little-film-that-could is deeply rewarding. “It’s wonderful,” he told SCREEN-SPACE. “It helps get your voice heard on an international platform and validates that what you’re creating resonates on a global level.” The two sessions of Book Week will see Davis return to Manchester for the first time since the festival screened his acclaimed drama Broke in 2016.

The festival will also host the first screenings in England’s north-west of Ben Hackworth’s opera drama Celeste, starring Radha Mitchell (pictured, top), which played the London Film Festival in October 2018. Australian talent also features in Jeff Vespa’s international co-production Paris Song, with actress Abbie Cornish (pictured, below) co-starring with Sanzhar Madiyev in the true story of Kazakh singer Amre Kashaubayev and his presence in an international singing competition at the 1925 Paris Expo. The Antipodes are further represented by New Zealander Dustin Feneley’s Stray, a potent romantic drama shot in the Otago region of the nation’s South Island.

In addition to the feature line-up, Australian short films have commandeered an impressive 12 slots in the program, including six U.K. premieres and one, Luke Wissel’s A Stone’s Throw, getting its first international exposure. It is a significant showing that Heath Davis says represents a burgeoning pool of Down Under filmmakers. “There’s a new wave of Aussie talent brewing and we want to create a brand where Australian films are sought after,” he says. “It’s starting to happen and this is an example of that.”

The vast richness displayed in the programming of the Australian content reflects the commitment of the festival to offer Manchester filmgoers breadth and depth of choice. In a press statement, Head of Programming Al Bailey says, “This year’s line-up is the perfect example of what we set out to achieve five years ago – a showcase of the most eclectic independent films from around the world and the strength of the selection shows the reputation that the festival has and continues to gain.” 

The short film roster includes:

Colony (Dir: Catherine Bonny; starring Emma Burnside, Alicia Hellingman, Ben Leyden; pictured, right) In the future two women struggle for survival as part of a work colony.

For Your Sins (Dir: Julian Lucas; starring Ryan Shelton, Dave Lawson, Michala Banas) A young man realises that everyone is sinning and seeks the help of a boutique communications agency to help raise awareness for his cause.

St. Bernie (Dir: Elise Tyson; starring Lara Robinson) Like any teenager, Bernie is curious about her developing body, sexuality and romantic interests but, denied any sex education in school or at home, Bernie feeds her curiosity in secret.

Solus (Dir: Adam Jamsek; starring Stephen Degenaro, Christopher Kirby, Tycho Richardson) A father and his chronically ill son go tracking into the heart of a forest in search for a magical healing bird.

Bridget and Iain (Dir: Leah Patterson; starring Vivienne Powell, Damian Sommerlad, Sala Baker) A loving mother struggles with her addict son and comes to realise that her actions maybe enabling his addiction.

Rooftops (Dir: Odeya Rush; starring Odeya Rush, Ryan Lee, Harry Nathan) The story of a boy in love, centered around the lyric "Rollin' like it's high school fantasy".

Skates (Dir: Maddelin McKenna; starring Renee Kypriotis, William McKenna, Corey Robert Hunt) New Year's Eve 1979; a young boy working at the local roller-skating rink forms a bond with a girl, skating alone.

A Stone’s Throw (Dir: Luke Wissel; starring Lily Pearl, Anna Steen, Patrick Graham) A rock thrown from an overpass sets in motion a series of crises that open emotional wounds for a middle-class family.

Behind Barres (Dir: Sophia Bender; starring Tizana Saunders , Damien Welch; pictured, right) A prisoner within her own body, ballerina Adelina is tortured by injury and begins to detach from reality in order to fight the physical pain and personal demons that torment her.

Cherry (Dir: Claudia Bailey, Vanessa Bray, Evie Friedrich) An anthology of stories that address virginity take an unflinching look into the awkward, perverse, intimate and sometimes embarrassing nature of sex.

Shooter (Dir: Andrew Carbone; starring Dugald Mullen, Clayton Watson, Mark Lee) Two boys dealing with the loss of their mother are faced with a father who is becoming increasingly unhinged in his grief.

Don’t Call Me Beautiful (Dir: Jill Robinson; Documentary) In 1965, at the age of 3 months, Zeitha Murphy was removed from the care of her Aboriginal mother, setting in motion years of emotional and physical abuse. Now, determined to create a better life for herself and her sons, Zeitha embarks on a journey to find her true place in society and her birth family.

The 2019 Manchester International Film Festival runs March 2-10. Full session and ticketing details can be found at the event’s official website.

TEEN SCREEN TALENT SHINES AT 2019 NEXTWAVE AWARDS NIGHT

Films tackling such weighty thematic elements as grief, alcoholism, kidnapping and disco have topped the winner’s list at the 2019 Nextwave Youth Film Awards. Hosted by local starlet Bonnie Ferguson (Book Week, 2018), the culmination of a year-long submissions process was held before a packed audience at the C.ex Coffs Auditorium in Coffs Harbour on Friday night. The student filmmaking strand of the Screenwave International Film Festival (SWIFF) welcomed a record number of submissions from over 50 school and community workshops held in 11 regions across rural New South Wales in 2018.

“It is fantastic to see so many people becoming engaged with it,” said Dave Horsley, SWIFF Festival Director and founder of the REC Ya Shorts Youth Film Festival, the popular student filmmaking competition that this year was rebranded and folded into Screenwave’s broader program. “Filmmaking is an activity that helps you make friends, cultivate relationships and all that good stuff which leads to positive mental health.” Nextwave is presented in conjunction with Headspace, a youth-focussed mental and emotional health care provider located in Coffs Harbour. (Pictured, below; Horsley and Screenwave Artistic Director Kate Howat attending a Nextwave/REC Ya Shorts workshop)

To qualify for the official competition, student filmmakers adhered to guidelines that stated their films must be no longer than six minutes, explore the theme of ‘Escape’ and include a ‘Sign’. Best Film winners were awarded in three age-specific categories – 12-14 years, 15-19 years and 20-25 years. Separate technical and creative categories were open to all age groups and were judged by a panel of industry professionals, including Alice Foulcher and Greg Erdstein, the creative team behind the 2017 comedy hit That’s Not Me.

The Best Film (12-14) went to Poe Black’s Kidnapped, a masterfully-paced black comedy about two young lads who don’t follow the ‘stranger danger’ creed yet emerge not only unscathed but also one-up on their would-be abductor. The Best Film (15-19) trophy was awarded to the remarkably accomplished 104 (pictured, top), a heartbreaking account of how living with an alcoholic parent impacts a young girl’s life; its director, Benjamin Bowles, also earned the Best Cinematography honour. The Best Film (20-25) award went to Willow Driver’s scifi-themed disco homage It’s Time to Dance, a loving ode to an era of music and fashion that ground to a halt three decades before the young filmmaker was born.

Though it was denied a Best Film award, Tallulah Rémond-Stephen’s We Are You, a stylish, dreamlike study of disenfranchisement, grief and confusion, was the night’s big winner, taking home three Nextwave honours. Lead actress and local girl Indigho Gray (pictured, below) took out the Best Actor award, earning herself a NIDA Acting Short Course, while Remond-Stephen earned both Best Director and Rising New Talent honours, an acknowledgement that comes with a one year Emerging Director Membership of the Australian Director’s Guild. The young Bellingen-based auteur is a REC Ya Shorts favourite, having earned top honours last year with her film Perdu, and in 2016 for The Inventor.

Director Benjamin McPhillips was also identified as an Emerging Talent honouree for his direction of the twin-sister drama, Prison Escape. Runners-up in the Acting category were Crystal Reichert, as the student caught living an exam day nightmare, in Jessica Burton’s Trials; and, Noah Mackie for his lovelorn graveyard worker in Skull, Jacob Shrimpton’s dark fantasy spin on the Cyrano de Bergerac tale. Shrimpton (pictured, below) had a good night, with his crowd-pleasing ‘watch-out-what-you-wish-for’ comedy Clone earning him Best Editor. Best Script went to David Smith for his confronting and personal examination of the euthanasia debate, Escape.          

A special Judges Commendation Award was bestowed upon Maeve Forest for her hilarious account of being trapped inside a bathroom during a wedding, entitled Water-loo: An Epic Battle for Freedom. Members of the judging panel recognised a unique voice and talent in nominating the director, whose film was in the youngest 12-14 category.

Also recognized on the night for their contribution to the Nextwave initiative were five regional high schools responsible for the most number of submissions in 2018/19 - Woolgoolga High School, Chatham High School, Oxley High School, Macksville High School, Nambucca Heads High School. Each of these schools had more than 5 students submit films, and helped them develop their talent and ambition through feedback, resources and time.

Nextwave was co-presented by SWIFF and Headspace Coffs Harbour and supported by Southern Cross University, Screen NSW, Arts Mid North Coast, C.ex Group, local Councils and the Regional Arts Fund. The winning films will be presented to regional communities in April as part of the 2019 National Youth Week celebrations.

LADIES IN BLACK LEAD OZ PACK AS QUEENS OF U.S. DESERT FEST

Four diverse Australian works will feature at the 30^th Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF), which launches January 3 in California’s upmarket desert enclave on the western edge of the Coachella Valley. Key amongst them is veteran filmmaker Bruce Beresford’s local hit Ladies in Black, which has been honoured as the Closing Night film of the 12-day program. Set to screen 223 films from 78 countries, organisers are predicting close to 140,000 attendees for the anniversary celebrations of one of America’s most respected and relaxed festival events.

The story of the strong-willed retail saleswomen at the forefront of social change in Sydney circa 1959, Ladies in Black was a critical and commercial hit domestically, earning AU$12.5million at the Australian/New Zealand box office and scoring four AACTA Awards, including Best Actress for starlet Angourie Rice. Yet to open in other key global markets, the North American premiere at PSIFF is a strong indication of the potential for the film to play with audiences beyond these shores (pictured, above; from left, Celia Massingham, Rice and Rachel Taylor).

Also enjoying a moment in the Californian film festival sun will be Benjamin Gilmour’s Jirga, screening as part of the festival’s Foreign Film Oscar Submission strand. The AACTA-winning drama follows a former Australian soldier’s return to Afghanistan, where he seeks forgiveness from the family of a civilian man he killed while serving in the war. Writer/director Gilmour, star Sam Smith (pictured, right) and a skeleton crew shot the film guerilla-style in some of Afghanistan’s most dangerous regions, the result being a film of rare emotion, tension and beauty; it had its World Premiere in Toronto to critical acclaim. It is Australia’s official Foreign Film Oscar contender, with large sections of the film in Pashto dialect.

Certain to amp up the party atmosphere will be a retrospective screening of Baz Luhrmann’s breakout 1992 blockbuster Strictly Ballroom. The film, which earned a staggering AU$80million global box office during its initial release, has been slotted into a strand called ‘The Palm Springs Canon’, a celebration of the best of the PSIFF's first 30 years. Luhrmann’s crowd-pleaser will play alongside 32 other established classics, including Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000), Krzysztof Kieslowski’s The Double Life of Veronique (1991), Giuseppe Tornatore’s Cinema Paradiso (1988), Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amelie (2001) and Christopher Nolan’s Memento (2000).

Rounding out the Antipodean contingent is Jeffery Walker’s Riot, the made-for-television account of the gay activists whose fight to decriminalize homosexuality in mid-70s Sydney led to the birth of the now iconic Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. Starring Damon Herriman (soon to feature as Charles Manson in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), the small-screen movie aired to a national audience via the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in June before earning Herriman (pictured, right; with co-star Xavier Samuels) and co-star Kate Box AACTA Awards last month for their lead performances. It will screen in the PSIFF strand ‘Queer Cinema Today & The Gay!LA’ alongside such festival favourites as Wanuri Kahiu’s lesbian-themed Kenyan film Rafiki and Austrian filmmaker Katharina Mueckstein’s L’Animale, one of the films vying for the festival’s New Voices/New Visions Grand Jury Prize.

The four Australian films will be seen by many of Hollywood’s major players, with studio and agency representatives attending alongside the likes of actors Timothée Chalamet, Glenn Close, Richard E. Grant, Melissa McCarthy and Rami Malek; and, directors Ryan Coogler, Spike Lee, Ali Abbasi, Emilio Estevez and Alfonso Cuarón.

The Palm Springs International Film Festival will launch on January 3 with the Opening Night film, Kenneth Branagh’s All is True, with the festivities concluding January 13 with Ladies in Black; both will screen at Richards Center for the Arts at Palm Springs High School followed by a reception at the Hilton Hotel complex.

SIX AUSTRALIAN FILMS ANNOUNCED IN SUNDANCE 2019 ROSTER

The year ahead for Australian cinema gets off to a heartening start with six local features selected for the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. The line-up boasts the star power of Oscar winners Hilary Swank and Lupita Nyong’o; locally bred stars Damon Herriman, Mia Wasikowska and Rose Byrne; and includes new features from director Wayne Blair (The Sapphires, 2012), Sophie Hyde (52 Tuesdays, 2013), Abe Forsythe (Down Under, 2016) and Jennifer Kent (The Babadook, 2014). In a statement released in the wake of the announcement, Screen Australia CEO Graeme Mason lauded, "the incredible slate of premieres", noting that " all the films revolve around central female characters, and half of the films are directed by women, a milestone for the Australian industry. Change is coming – slowly, but surely.” The high-altitude mecca for the indie film sector runs January 24 to February 3.

WORLD CINEMA DRAMATIC COMPETITION

Judy & Punch (Director/Writer: Mirrah Foulkes, Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Damon Herriman, Tom Budge, Benedict Hardie, Lucy Velik, Terry Norris.) In the anarchic town of Seaside, nowhere near the sea, puppeteers Judy and Punch are trying to resurrect their marionette show. The show is a hit due to Judy’s superior puppeteering but Punch’s driving ambition and penchant for whisky lead to a inevitable tragedy that Judy must avenge. Debut feature director Mirrah Foulkes stated via the Screen Australia site, "[The] festival has been formative to the careers of many of my peers. It's an absolute privilege to be premiering my first feature there.” (Pictured, top; Mia Wasikowska in Judy & Punch. Photo: Ben King)

PREMIERES

Animals (Director: Sophie Hyde, Screenwriter: Emma Jane Unsworth, Cast: Holliday Grainger, Alia Shawkat; pictured, above). After a decade of partying, Laura and Tyler’s friendship is strained by Laura’s new love and her focus on her novel. A snapshot of a modern woman with competing desires, at once a celebration of female friendship and an examination of the choices we make when facing a crossroads. Hyde took home the Sundance Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic for 52 Tuesdays in 2014 (Animals is an Irish/Australian co-production; Photo: Bernard Walsh)

I Am Mother (Director: Grant Sputore, Screenwriter: Michael Lloyd Green, Cast: Clara Rugaard, Rose Byrne, Hilary Swank.) In the wake of humanity’s extinction, a teenage girl is raised by a robot designed to repopulate the earth. But their unique bond is threatened when an inexplicable stranger arrives with alarming news (Pictured, above; Hilary Swank in I am Mother)

Top End Wedding (Director: Wayne Blair, Screenwriters: Joshua Tyler, Miranda Tapsell, Cast: Miranda Tapsell, Gwilym Lee, Kerry Fox, Huw Higginson, Ursula Yovich, Shari Sebbens.) Lauren and Ned are engaged, they are in love, and they have just ten days to find Lauren’s mother who has gone AWOL somewhere in the remote far north of Australia, reunite her parents and pull off their dream wedding. Miranda Tapsell (pictured, above) said via press release, "As a co-writer, producer and actor in this film, it's been a labour of love for me and having the opportunity to showcase the Northern Territory to an international audience, through a different lens, at such a prestigious festival, makes this such a rewarding experience."

MIDNIGHT

Little Monsters (Director /Writer: Abe Forsythe, Cast: Lupita Nyong’o, Alexander England, Josh Gad.) A film dedicated to all the kindergarten teachers who motivate children to learn, instill them with confidence and stop them from being devoured by zombies. Via the Screen Australia website, Forsythe declared, "I’m so happy that everyone’s work will be premiered at a festival I’ve always dreamed of attending. (Pictured, above; Lupita Nyong'o as Miss Caroline)

SPOTLIGHT

The Nightingale (Director/Writer: Jennifer Kent, Cast: Aisling Franciosi, Sam Claflin, Baykali Ganambarr, Damon Herriman, Harry Greenwood, Ewen Leslie) 1825. Clare, a young Irish convict-woman, chases a British officer through the Tasmanian wilderness, bent on revenge for a terrible act of violence he committed against her family. On the way she enlists the services of Aboriginal tracker Billy, who is marked by trauma from his own violence-filled past. (Pictured, above; Aisling Franciosi as Clare)