Toronto's Aussie Film Weekend

SCHEDULE FOR
AUSTRALIA.COM OZFLIX:
AUSTRALIAN FILM WEEKEND.

(From Feb 13th - 16th 2009)

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13th, 2008

THE BLACK BALLOON – Drama - 97min/ 35mm/ 2008

Director: Elissa Down (feature debut).  Starring Toni Collette, Rhys Wakefield, Luke Ford, Erik Thomson, Gemma Ward.

TORONTO PREMIERE – OPENING NIGHT SCREENING – Friday, February 13 @ 7pm

It’s not easy being Thomas. He’s turning sixteen, he and his family are moving to a new home and he has to start at a new school. All he wants is to fit in. When his pregnant mother Maggie (Aussie treasure Toni Collette) has to take things easy, his father Simon (Erik Thomson) puts Thomas in charge of his autistic older brother Charlie (Luke Ford, in an amazing performance). Thomas (Rhys Wakefield), with the help of his new girlfriend Jackie (Gemma Ward), faces his biggest challenge yet. Charlie’s unusual antics take Thomas on an emotional journey that causes his pent-up frustrations about his brother to pour out - in a story that is funny, confronting, and ultimately heart-warming.

Director and co-writer Elissa Down draws on her own family history- two of her brothers are autistic- to create a profoundly realistic and human portrait of an ordinary family who are ultimately nothing less than extraordinary. The best-reviewed, and one of the most successful, Australian films of 2008, The Black Balloon is an unforgettable story about fitting in, discovering love and accepting your family. 

Winner Crystal Bear, Berlin International Film Festival and winner of six Australian Film Institute Awards including Best Picture, Best Direction, Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress (Toni Collette)

“The Black Balloon courses with a firsthand feel for languorous Aussie summers, the shifting scales of love and hate in sibling relationships, and the earned wit that helps families cope with difficult situations.” Scott Foundas, The Village Voice.

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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY, 14th

THE OASIS – documentary - 88min/Beta SP/ 2008

Directors:  Sascha Ettinger Epstein & Ian Darling (feature debut)

CANADIAN PREMIERE – Saturday, February 14th @ 2:45pm

Fact: 22,000 Australian teenagers are homeless at any given moment. Filmmakers Epstein and Darling spent two years documenting the stories of several of these teenagers, gaining unprecedented access to the community who are serviced by the Oasis, a youth refuge in Sydney’s Surrey Hills. This is the underbelly of Australia and it’s shocking and disturbing to see what lurks in the not so lucky parts of Sydney. The heart of the Oasis is it’s dedicated and tireless Director, Captain Paul Moulds- who himself was born in a Salvation Army Hospital to a young mother and raised without knowing his parents. For over 19 years Captain Moulds and his wife Robbin have been the calm at the centre of the storm, helping kids get into rehabilitation programs, moving people into their first apartments, welcoming new life, presiding over funerals and providing support for hundreds of youth a year. This film follows the lives of seven troubled teens and youth for whom each day is a monumental struggle with the odds stacked squarely against them. Offering a harrowing, yet hopeful glimpse into complicated and tortured lives The Oasis is not an easy film to watch, but Captain Moulds never lets us forget that with the dawn of each new day comes a glimmer of hope for these forgotten kids.

Winner AFI Award for Best Direction in a Feature Documentary

“… excellent, confronting documentary…” Greg Hassall, Sydney Morning Herald

with

TNORALA – documentary -23min/DigiBeta/ 2007

Director: Warwick Thornton

CANADIAN PREMIERE

See the world through Aboriginal eyes as this magical combination of storytelling and cinematography transports you to the amazing vistas of Tnorala, Australia. Storyteller Mavis Malbunka takes us on a journey through time as she describes the relationship of her people to the ancestors, the land, to intruders, and their approach to modern day tourism that may be the key to preserving Tnorala for future generations.  Selected for Melbourne International Film Festival

AUSSIE SHORTS – BAD BOYS – 97min

Saturday, February 14th @ 5pm

From acclaimed filmmakers and prestigious festival screenings we are pleased to present a selection of Bad Boys for your consideration.

SUMMER BREAKS - Director: Sean Kruck.  CANADIAN PREMIERE

All in a days work: hanging out, getting stoned, chasing girls & breaking into the local pool. It’s a pretty hectic schedule.

NETHERLAND DWARF - Director: David Michôd.  CANADIAN PREMIERE

Father and son both want something they can’t have. If only they could see that they have each other.  Selected for Sundance Film Festival 2009

THE LIST - Director: Joel Edgerton CANADIAN PREMIERE

A chance encounter with an ex-girlfriend leads Dale to question his chosen path. Caught between two worlds he wonders if he has left it too late to make a change.

THE GROUND BENEATH - Director: Rene Hernandez CANADIAN PREMIERE

Kaden’s blossoming friendship with Casey gives him the strength to see the world in a more positive light.

JERRYCAN - Director: Julius Avery CANADIAN PREMIERE

Teenagers with nothing to do make their own fun in this homage to the dangerous, lazy days of summer.

Winner Jury Prize Cannes Film Festival 2008 and Selected for Sundance Film Festival 2009

REMEMBER MY NAME - Director: Kasimir Burgess, Bowen Duffy & Nick Moore

CANADIAN PREMIERE

Something big is about to happen on Melbourne’s Bourke Street – you won’t want to miss a second!

THE SQUARE – Thriller - 105min/ 35mm/ 2008

Director: Nash Edgerton (feature debut). Starring: David Roberts (Matrix Reloaded), Claire Van Der Boom, Joel Edgerton, Anthony Hayes.

CANADIAN PREMIERE – Saturday, February 14th @ 7:30pm

Director Nash Edgerton, whose extensive experience as a stunt performer has honed his fine eye for action sequences, delivers on the promise of his short films with this broody, suburban noir. Construction supervisor Ray (David Roberts) is romantically entangled with Carla (Claire Van Der Boom), a flighty femme fatale whose motivations seem born of boredom and self-interest rather than passion. Their illicit affair prompts Ray to act outside his ordinary square and the imploding consequences propel the brilliantly layered plot forward. Matt Dabner and Joel Edgerton’s (Nash’s brother) script courageously centres the action on a hapless everyman whose false moves are made with such uncertainty that he will neither be the hero nor redeemed. The seething masculinity and craggy physicality of the ragtag gang of corrupt tradesmen and petty criminals (Anthony Hayes, Joel Edgerton and Brendan Donoghue are particularly fine) remains doggedly colloquial while rooted in the 40s tradition of Robert Siodmak and Anthony Mann. The over-heated Christmas backdrop, both exotic and familiar, provides the perfect context for the film’s peppering of comic and musical diversions. -from Sydney Film Festival catalogue

“It isn’t an exaggeration to say old Hitch probably would have dug this film; nor is it an exaggeration to say The Square is up there with Lantana and Noise as one of best Australian thrillers in recent memory.” Luke Buckmaster, In Film Australia

with

LESSON FROM THE NIGHT – documentary - 9min/beta sp/ 2008

Director: Adrian Francis CANADIAN PREMIERE

Maia is an immigrant from Bulgaria and whilst cleaning offices, floors and toilets she reflects on her job and how she came to Australia.  Selected for Sundance Film Festival 2009

NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD – documentary - 98min/ 35mm/ 2008

Director: Mark Hartley (feature debut)

Saturday, February 14th @ 9:30pm

Free-wheelin’ sex romps! Blood-soaked terror tales! High-octane action extravaganzas! They’re the main ingredients of Not Quite Hollywood, the first detailed examination and celebration of Australian genre cinema of the 70s and 80s. In 1971, with the introduction of the R-certificate, Australia’s censorship regime went from repressive to progressive virtually overnight. This cultural explosion gave birth to art house classics, such as Picnic At Hanging Rock and My Brilliant Career, but also spawned a group of demon-children: maverick filmmakers who braved assault from all quarters to bring films like Alvin Purple, The Man From Hong Kong, Patrick, Turkey Shoot and Mad Max to the big screen.

Full of outrageous anecdotes, a large cast of local and International names- including unabashed “OZploitation” fanboy Quentin Tarantino- and a genuine, infectious love of Australian movies, Not Quite Hollywood is a fast-moving journey through an unjustly forgotten cinematic era that was unashamedly packed full of ***censored***, pubes, tubes… and even a little kung fu.

“This tremendously entertaining film moves like gangbusters and packs a hell of a punch…a jaw-dropping amalgamation of some of the Australian film industry’s kookiest achievements.”

- Luke Buckmaster, In Film Australia

With

A BREAK IN THE MONOTONY – Horror - 4min/Beta SP/ 2008

Director: Damien Slevin

TORONTO PREMIERE

The emptiness of a boring office job is not much worse than simply being the living dead, as illustrated in this stunning animated horror show that takes place in the near future… after a zombie holocaust.

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SUNDAY FEBURARY, 15th

12:30pm - FREE FAMILY FILM SCREENING - TBA

THREE BLIND MICE – Drama - 94min/ 2008/ 35mm

Director: Matthew Newton (Right Here Right Now).  Starring: Ewan Leslie, Toby Schmitz and Matthew Newton.

Sunday February 15th @ 2:45PM

Deceptively freewheeling, this taut psychological drama follows three young Australian naval officers on shore-leave who hit the streets of Sydney before being shipped out to Iraq. The dynamic between the three friends is uneasy, and tinged with malice: Sam (Ewan Leslie) has more than one reason to be looking for a way out; Dean (Toby Schmitz) is anxious to reconnect with his girlfriend and is burdened by some kind of guilt; Harry (Matthew Newton) is full of attitude and bent on a night of excess. The differing personalities, conflicting agendas and tensions between the men ensure an eventful night on the town…

Winner FIPRESCI Award - BFI London Film Festival

“Matthew Newton’s second film as writer-director, Three Blind Mice, establishes him as one of the most exciting young talents in Australia…It’s a clever, well-made film with smart, realistic dialogue...” - Stuart O’Connor, The Guardian

ALL MY FRIENDS ARE LEAVING BRISBANE – Romantic Comedy - 76min/ 35mm/ 2007

Director: Louise Alston (feature debut).  Starring: Charlotte Gregg, Matt Zeremes, Ryan Johnson.

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE – Sunday, February 15th @ 5pm

Anthea (Charlotte Gregg) is an aimless 20-something with no boyfriend, a really bad job at a chauvinistic law firm and a shortage of friends-it seems as if everyone she knows is leaving for London en masse. Picking up and leaving Brisbane seems like a great idea, although her best friend Michael (Matt Zeremes) isn’t so sure.  Anthea is galvanized into action when an ex-boyfriend returns to Brisbane for a friends wedding. After trying but failing to rekindle the romance, Anthea sees this as a flashing neon sign telling her to get out of dodge, so she decides to follow in her roommate Kath’s footsteps and make the jump across the pond. She quits her job and starts packing up her life, but Anthea’s fixation on the future may be what’s stopping her from seeing the potential for romance right here at home.  Screened at Brisbane International Film Festival

“Short and snappy Aussie romantic comedy is brightly performed and speaks universal truths about those twentysomethings from smaller cities who feel they have to go somewhere else to make it.” Richard Kuipers, Variety

With

CHAINSAW - 24min/25mm/ 2008

Director: Dennis Tupicoff

CANADIAN PREMIERE

What do a chainsaw safety film, the rodeo, love and revenge all have in common? The answer is Frank and Ava Gardner.

Winner Nelvana Grand Prize, Ottawa International Animation Festival 2008 and winner Grand Prix, Oberhausen International Short Film Festival 2008.

CACTUS – Thriller - 89min/ 35mm/ 2008

Director: Jasmine Yuen-Carrucan (feature debut).  Starring: Travis McMahon, David Lyons, Bryan Brown, Shane Jacobson.

TORONTO PREMIERE – Sunday, February 15th @ 7:30pm

Set against the unforgiving landscape of the Australian outback, Cactus inhabits a world where the line between victim and villain is easily blurred. John Kelly (Travis McMahon) is an ordinary man stuck between a rock and a much harder place.  He needs cash- fast. He accepts a job to kidnap and deliver professional gambler Eli Jones (David Lyons) to his keepers in the Australian outback: No questions asked. The kidnapping is meticulously planned, but even the best laid plans… A meddling outback cop (Bryan Brown) and a hapless truckie (Kenny’s Shane Jacobson) unwittingly become unexpected players in the deadly game.  The journey takes both captor and hostage out of the safety of the city, deep into the starkness of the desert where choices will be made with tragic consequences. As time and distance roll by, the courage and endurance of both is pushed to the limit in a land where the point of no return is hard to see through the bitumen haze.

“Cactus is elegant, restrained and coherent. It’s a welcome addition to our national cinema, a solid, personal and accomplished film which adds to the diversity of a cinema much more vibrant than is too widely believed… possibly the best thing to happen to Australian cinema in a couple of years.” Matt Ravier, In Film Australia

With

MIRACLE FISH -17min/ 2008/ 35mm

Director: Luke Doolan

CANADIAN PREMIERE

Eight year old Joe has a Birthday he will never forget. After friends bully him, he sneaks off to the sick bay, wishing everyone in the world would go away. He wakes up to find his dream may have become a reality.  Selected for Sundance Film Festival 2009

AUSTRALIAN ANIMATION: THE BOLD, THE BRAVE & THE BEST

120min/DigiBeta/ various

Celebrating 30 years of Australian Animation.  Curated by Anthony Lucas

Sunday, February 15th @ 9:30pm

Curated by Academy Award® nominated animator, Anthony Lucas from the animations that have inspired his career. Highlights of the program include award winning iconic television commercials, ‘Louie The Fly,’ ‘Mr. Sheen’ and ‘Aeroplane Jelly’ alongside award winning shorts by famous Australian Animators including Sarah Watt, Adam Elliot, Wendy Chandler and Bruce Petty (winner of the first Academy Award® for Australian animation 1970). Featuring 23 shorts and commercials this is a rare opportunity to see some seminal animated works from Australia spanning half a century of work.

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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16th

PAPER DOLLS – Documentary - 52min/ DigiBeta/ 2008

Director: Angela Buckingham (feature debut).

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE - Monday February 16th @ 2:45pm

Using archival footage, images from magazines of the 1940s, photographs and music, we are transported back to the sights and sounds of Australia 60 years ago- at the dawn of World War II.  One morale-booster in these otherwise trying times was the glossy magazines of the day- publications like PIX and MAN which featured plenty of pin-ups of gorgeous, generally wholesome Aussie gals.  Three former pin-ups are the central focus of this charming documentary. For these women, posing for the pictures served a noble purpose; inundated with hundreds of letters from fans and admirers, they saw it as part of their patriotic duty to respond to their fans with great care and consideration. Through their reflections we are afforded real insight into the important role these women played in lifting morale amongst the troops and giving the men a connection to home and better times. More than just pretty faces, these strong and inspiring women have a lot to say about media and the role they played in it.

With

SOLO – Documentary – 55min/Beta sp/2008

Director: David Michôd & Jennifer Peedom

On January 11th , 2007 adventurer and expert kayaker Andrew McAuley leaves Sydney’s shores in an attempt to be the first successful solo kayaker to complete the daring and treacherous crossing from Australia to New Zealand.  Enduring a force nine storm, extreme cold and constant wetness, it seems that there is nothing that can stand in his way.  On his 30th day at sea McAuley sends out a distress call to Maritime Authorities at 7:13pm. One day later an empty kayak is recovered 60km from New Zealand’s Milford Sound. All that remains is McAuley’s camera and his personal account of 30 days at sea, which provide fascinating insight into the adventurer’s spirit. Co-directors Michôd and Peedom have artfully blended McAuley’s own story with that of his widow Vicki, son Findlay and his support team to create an intimate and inspiring documentary.

GREAT AUSTRALIAN ALBUMS. NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS: MURDER BALLADS – Documentary - 52min/DigiBeta/2008

Director: Larry Meltzer

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE – Monday, February 16th @ 5pm

‘Sometimes I lie down in bed and think about murdering somebody,’ a comment from Nick Cave that is at odds with his genial manner in this riveting documentary. Although it’s obvious he’s drawn to the macabre, or as Dave Graney puts it, ‘he delights in badness’. The idea of an entire album dedicated to murder apparently started as a joke; but as Bad Seed Conway Savage remarks there was always a murder track, ‘loosely referred to as the comedy record’. Packed with music clips, snippets from The Boys Next Door and The Birthday Party, as well as interviews with Nick, Kylie Minogue, PJ Harvey, Bad Seeds old and new, former collaborators, music critics and more, this doco is both revealing and entertaining: the story of Kylie’s involvement and her duet (Where the Wild Roses Grow) with Nick on Top of the Pops is something special. – from Sydney Film Festival catalogue.

With

GREAT AUSTRALIAN ALBUMS.  THE GO-BETWEENS: 16 LOVERS LANE – Documentary – 52min/DigiBeta/2008

Director:  Larry Meltzer

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

The album ‘16 Lovers Lane’ encapsulates all those qualities that made the Go-Betweens great: love, adventure, courage, idiosyncrasy and honesty. In its grooves is the history of one of Australia’s national treasures.

The sixth album by the Go-Betweens was recorded in 1988 after the group had spent seven years in Europe gaining immense critical acclaim. As The Times put it; “The Go-Betweens represented a pinnacle in antipodean popular music. McLennan and Forster formed a potent song writing partnership. Forster’s approach was edgy and brooding; McLennan’s style more wistful and romantic. Yet they complemented each other so perfectly that they were frequently described as ‘Australia’s Lennon and McCartney’”. The chemistry of the group was an integral part of its work and this film goes into the relationships that made the Go-Betweens. We also investigate the songs; especially the melodic chemistry which has made songs like “Streets of Your Town” classics. Despite the unanimous critical acclaim for the band, its most accessible album was not a hit and the lack of success spelt the end of the group. Each of the players recounts the final, emotional end to the group.

IN HER SKIN – Thriller - 97min/35mm/2009

Director: Simone North (feature debut).  Starring: Ruth Bradley, Guy Pearce, Miranda Otto, Sam Neill.

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE – CLOSING NIGHT FILM

Monday February 16th @ 7:30pm

Rachel Barber is 15 and everything that Caroline Reid/Robertson (Ruth Bradley), her former babysitter, is not. She’s beautiful, a gifted dancer, has a steady boyfriend and gets on well with her family. Caroline is overweight, has bad hair and skin and is all but estranged from her family. Caroline sets into motion a plan that will take Rachel’s life and forever change her own.  When Rachel doesn’t return home one evening her parents Mike (Guy Pearce) and Elizabeth Barber (Miranda Otto) are terrified that something has happened to their daughter, and are determined to find her.  The police aren’t very interested in their suspicions – teenagers runaway all the time – so Mike and Elizabeth take matters into their own hands, with results that neither of them could have expected.  An intense, intriguing drama, based on a true story, In Her Skin, stuns with it’s superb acting, unconventional narrative structure and ripped-from-the-headlines plot.