WOMEN DIRECTORS FLY OZ FLAG AT SUNDANCE 2021

The feature documentary Playing with Sharks, virtual reality project Prison X - Chapter 1: The Devil & The Sun and short film GNT will fly the Australian sector flag at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. The iconic event has responded to the COVID pandemic by scheduling both online and theatrical sessions across the US from 28 January to 3 February.

Playing with Sharks, a documentary about iconic Australian diver and filmmaker Valerie Taylor, will make its world premiere in the World Documentary Competition.

“To launch this film at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival is a dream come true,” enthused director Sally Aitken. “Valerie’s daredevil exploits and her astounding underwater archive are a potent mix for any director. That she is still diving and fighting for sharks at the age of 85 shows Valerie’s incredible passion and thirst for adventure remains undiminished. Her life-affirming journey as an unlikely conservationist proves what is possible with our interconnectedness to the natural world, if we allow it.”

PLAYING WITH SHARKS (Dir: Sally Aitken; Prod: Bettina Dalton) Synopsis: Valerie Taylor is a shark fanatic and an Australian icon. A marine maverick who forged her way as a fearless diver, cinematographer and conservationist. She filmed the real sharks for Jaws and famously wore a chain mail suit, using herself as shark bait, in experiments that changed scientific understanding of sharks forever.

Virtual reality animation Prison X – Chapter 1: The Devil & The Sun will make its world premiere in the New Frontier section which showcases emerging media storytelling, multimedia installations, performances, and films across fiction, nonfiction and hybrid projects. The project takes viewers on a mythological journey inside a Neo-Andean underworld, where The Jaguaress greets you at the gateway between theater and reality and casts you as Inti, a young man imprisoned after his first job as a drug mule..

“As a storyteller, Virtual Reality gave me the tools and technological capacity to push my imagination to a further degree,” said Quechua filmmaker Violeta Ayala. “But it takes a community to make a film, and I'm very proud that the team behind Prison X represents the Australia that we see on the streets.” The production utilised the talents of Bolivian-Australian, Ghanaian-Australian and Filipino-Australian creatives.

PRISON X – THE DEVIL & THE SUN (Writ/Dir: Violeta Ayala; Prods: Violeta Ayala, Dan Fallshaw, Roly Elias) Synopsis: A virtual reality project where heavy doors open up and suck you in as a world of magical realism swirls around you, where you have to hang onto your soul so the devil doesn't take it away.

Animated short film GNT (pictured, top), which won the Yoram Gross Animation prize at Sydney Film Festival 2020, follows one woman’s outrageous mission to conquer social media and upstage her friends. Creators Sara Hirner and Rosemary Vasquez-Brown said, “We put so much love into this chaotic four minutes, and feel especially humbled that it will be shown at Sundance. We hope it makes you giggle, or at the very least, question your choices on social media.”

GNT (Writ/Dirs: Sara Hirner, Rosemary Vasquez-Brown; Prods: Sara Hirner, Rosemary Vasquez-Brown) Synopsis: An animation that follows Glenn, a woman on an unwholesome mission to conquer her clique and social media at large.

“Congratulations to these teams, this selection is an incredible accomplishment,” said Screen Australia’s CEO Graeme Mason. “These projects each have a distinctive Australian voice and demonstrate the breadth and ingenuity of our industry on the world stage. It’s fantastic to have three projects representing Australia all helmed by female directors in this year’s program.” Screen Australia were principal production investors on Playing with Sharks and Prison X – Chapter 1: The Devil & The Sun, in association with Screen NSW. GNT was created as a graduation project out of University of Technology Sydney.

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)