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FilmFest Australia · 2011

FilmFest Australia 2011

Features And Documentaries

Programme

15 films · 9 reviews

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Animal Kingdom

Review preview for Animal Kingdom

Michod has created a deeply pessimistic but fascinating world lit by excellent cinematography and set to a moody score.

Owen Van Spall · 4.5 out of 5
After the death of his mother, a 17-year-old boy is thrust precariously between an explosive criminal family and a detective who thinks he can save him. Plus read our exclusive .

(Country: Australia; Year: 2009; Director: David Michôd; Writer: David Michôd; Stars: Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton, Guy Pearce, Luke Ford, Jacki Weaver, Sullivan Stapleton, James Frecheville, Daniel Wyllie, Anthony Hayes, Laura Wheelwright, Mirrah Foulkes, Justin Rosniak, Susan Prior, Clayton Jacobson, Anna Lise Phillips)

Full review See: Ben Mendelsohn interview about Animal Kingdom

Beneath Hill 60

Dramatisation of the true story of ordinary Australian miners, who were conscripted to the rain-filled and mud-drenched trencher to build tunnels under key battlefield Hill 60 in World War I.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2010; Director: Jeremy Sims; Writer: David Roach; Stars: Brendan Cowell, Harrison Gilbertson, Steve Le Marquand, Gyton Grantley, Alex Thompson, Duncan Young, Alan Dukes, Mark Coles Smith, Warwick Young, Anthony Hayes, Leon Ford, Chris Haywood, Bob Franklin, Anthony Ring, Andy Bramble) , Official site

Jucy

Review preview for Jucy

Jucy may at times take on the ramshackle amateurishness of the play in which Jackie and Lucy appear – but it more than makes up for this with an enthusiasm and vibrancy that ensures its judiciously brief duration breezes by.

Anton Bitel · 3.5 out of 5
Jucy = Jackie + Lucy, best friends who hatch a plan to snag the man and grab a cool new job.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2010; Director: Louise Alston; Writer: Stephen Vagg, based on a story by Louise Alston; Stars: Cindy Nelson, Francesca Gasteen, Ryan Johnson, Damien Freeleagus, Nelle Lee, Andrew Ryan, Charlotte Gregg, Sally McKenzie, Christopher Sommers) , Official site

Full review

Closing gala

Little Sparrows

Drama focusing on the life and impending death of a woman, and the three daughters she will leave behind.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2010; Director: Yu-Hsiu Camille Chen; Writer: Yu-Hsiu Camille Chen; Stars: Nicola Bartlett, James Hagan, Nina Deasley, Melanie Munt, Arielle Gray, Scott Jackson, Nick Candy, Whitney Richards, Simon Lockwood, Christie Sistrunk) , Official site

Mao's Last Dancer

Ballet biopic, based on the best-selling autobiography of Li Cunxin.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2009; Director: Bruce Beresford; Writer: Jan Sardi, Cunxin Li; Stars: Bruce Greenwood, Kyle MacLachlan, Joan Chen, Chi Cao, Amanda Schull, Shuangbao Wang, Chengwu Guo, Wen Bin Huang, Aden Young, Madeleine Eastoe, Camilla Vergotis, Penne Hackforth-Jones, Jack Thompson, Christopher Kirby, Suzie Steen) , Official site

Matching Jack

After her son is taken ill, a woman tries to find a way to get a positive outcome from her husband's infidelities.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2010; Director: Nadia Tass; Writer: Lynne Renew, David Parker; Stars: Jacinda Barrett, Richard Roxburgh, Tom Russell, James Nesbitt, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Yvonne Strahovski, Colin Friels, Julia Blake, Marg Downey, Daniela Farinacci, Alexandra Schepisi, Nicole Gulasekharam, Krista Vendy, Jane Allsop, Jacinta Stapleton)

Oranges And Sunshine

Review preview for Oranges And Sunshine

In taking on such a huge subject, Oranges And Sunshine acquits itself well.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A social worker struggles to reunite families after discovering the (real life) scandalous deportation of British children to other Commonwealth countries, which often resulted in abuse.

(Country: UK, Australia; Year: 2010; Director: Jim Loach; Writer: Rona Munro; Stars: Hugo Weaving, Emily Watson, David Wenham)

Full review

Red Dog

Review preview for Red Dog

The cast do a splendid job of portraying the rough and tumble inhabitants of the mining town, each with their own problems and desires.

Lindis Kipp · 5 out of 5
The story of a Western Australian legend and the tough, warm, independent people whose lives he touched.

(Country: Australia, US; Year: 2011; Director: Kriv Stenders; Writer: Louis de Bernières, Daniel Taplitz; Stars: Josh Lucas, Rachael Taylor, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Noah Taylor, Luke Ford, Bill Hunter, Tiffany Lyndall-Knight, Arthur Angel, John Batchelor, Loene Carmen, Rohan Nichol, Costa Ronin, Eamon Farren, Koko, Shingo Usami) , Official site

Full review

Opening gala. The film will be introduced by writer Louis de Bernieres and actor Noah Taylor

Red Hill

Review preview for Red Hill

For the first half an hour, the tension bubbles along nicely... but the further into the runtime we ride, the more the cliches stack up.

Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
Life proves tough for a young police officer in a small town, as he begins to wonder if he'll make it through his first day alive.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2010; Director: Patrick Hughes; Writer: Patrick Hughes; Stars: Ryan Kwanten, Steve Bisley, Tommy Lewis, Claire van der Boom, Christopher Davis, Kevin Harrington)

Full review

The Snowman

Review preview for The Snowman

What impresses most is Lamont's intelligent and absorbing approach to her material.

James Benefield · 4 out of 5
A daughter's journey to try to find out what triggered her father's mental illness.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2009; Director: Juliet Lamont; Writer: Juliet Lamont)

Full review

South Solitary

Review preview for South Solitary

Anna Howard's cinematography is never anything less than stunning in its starkness.

Anton Bitel · 3.5 out of 5
A spinster battles loneliness after she is sent to look after a lighthouse on a remote island.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2010; Director: Shirley Barrett; Writer: Shirley Barrett; Stars: Miranda Otto, Marton Csokas, Essie Davis, Rohan Nichol, Annie Martin, Barry Otto)

Full review

Strange Birds in Paradise: A West Papuan Story

Australian writer, cartoonist and comedian Charlie Hill-Smith explores the rich culture and recent history of West Papua.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2009; Director: Charlie Hill-Smith; Writer: Charlie Hill-Smith, David Tiley) , Official site

Will feature a Q&A with Director Charlie Hill-Smith

Surviving Georgia

Review preview for Surviving Georgia

When the film's romantic and more cathartic strands start to emerge half way through, it nestles into the perfect smug of the sentimental and jagged edges the film previously creates for itself.

James Benefield · 3 out of 5
The arrival of matching letters from their estranged mother Georgia turns the worlds of sisters Heidi and Rose upside down.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2011; Director: Sandra Sciberras, Kate Whitbread; Writer: Sandra Sciberras; Stars: Pia Miranda, Holly Valance, Shane Jacobson, Caroline O'Connor, Spencer McLaren, Toby Wallace, Katerina Kotsonis, Alyssa McClelland) , Official site

Full review

Tomorrow, When The War Began

Review preview for Tomorrow, When The War Began

One feels one is exploring a potentially interesting scenario in the company of the wrong group of people.

Jennie Kermode · 2 out of 5
The tale of an unlikely group of high-school heroes who fight for their lives in a war no-one had predicted.

(Country: Australia, US; Year: 2010; Director: Stuart Beattie; Writer: John Marsden, Stuart Beattie; Stars: Caitlin Stasey, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Lincoln Lewis, Deniz Akdeniz, Phoebe Tonkin, Chris Pang, Ashleigh Cummings, Andrew Ryan, Colin Friels, Don Halbert, Olivia Pigeot, Stephen Bourke, Kelly Butler, Julia Yon, Dane Carson) , Official site

Full review

The Tree

After the sudden death of her dad, a youngster comes to believe his spirit lives on in a large tree overshadowing her house... but what happens when the tree comes under threat?

(Country: France, Australia, Germany, Italy; Year: 2010; Director: Julie Bertucelli; Writer: Judy Pascoe, Julie Bertucelli, Elizabeth J. Mars; Stars: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Morgana Davies, Marton Csokas, Christian Byers, Tom Russell, Gabriel Gotting, Aden Young, Penne Hackforth-Jones, Gillian Jones, Zoe Boe, Bob MacKay, Ryan Potter,) , Official site