Some subjects need to be dealt with head on, telling things the way that they are.
Homelessness, and all that it entails, is one of those kind of subjects.
With her film SOME HAPPY DAY, which she has written, directed and produced, Catherine Hill does just this. It is a very harsh film.
There were times during the film I wanted to look away. The opening scene set the tone. A young couple, Tina and Ben, have slept in bushland with the city (Melbourne) skyline in the distance. The boyfriend wakes up first and we see take off with the money in her purse. She wakes up to make the discovery, grabs her possessions and listlessly wanders off.
There were times during the film I just wanted to look away. Peta Brady’s performance as street woman Tina is unrelenting as indeed is the performance of James O’Connell as her drug dependent, thug boyfriend Ben.
Their performances are contrasted with Mary Helen Sassman’s performance as hard working social worker Frances and her husband Jay played by Cameron Zayes. Their contented middle class is in peril after Frances discovers some graphic images on his computer. It couldn’t come at a worse time as she has just found out that she is pregnant.
Tina and Frances’ lives intersect when Tina, in dire straits, walks into a crisis centre and Frances sees her. The film’s action takes place over a single day.
I sat through the film and didn’t look away. How could I with these statistics. On any given night in Australia approximately 116,000 people will be homeless- that is one in every 200 Australians. The average life expectancy of rough sleepers is around 50 years, almost 30 years lower than housed populations. Last year it is estimated that over 420 homelessness people died on Australian streets.
For Hill SOME HAPPY DAY was a passion project. It was inspired by her 20 years experience working as a case manager and crisis worker with marginalised and often street homeless men and women.
“Every day I witnessed the strength, resilience, struggles and stories of people who have found themselves, m sleeping at the beach, in the park, under a stairwell or in a squat.”
The film was not only a passion project for Hill but for everyone involved with the film. The cast and crew all worked for free. This included actor Maurrya Bourandanis who had lived experience of street homelessness. As a woman over 50, Maurya is representative of the fastest growing cohort of homeless people in Australia.
Hill’s goal in making the film is to help humanise homelessness through the story of Tina- from acknowledging those experiencing homelessness to donating, volunteering, and advocating for a national housing policy that would afford every Australian the basic right to a secure, safe home and to live a life of dignity. Wouldn’t that be a happy day!
The film will be available to corporate businesses, community organisations, educational institutions, local councils, and government agencies to screen.
There will be two screenings of SOME HAPPY DAY at the Randwick Ritz cinema . They will be on Sunday 15 May at 4pm and a screening on Monday 16 May at 6.30pm. The film’s screening will followed by a Q and A with a panel that will include Catherine Hill, Cecilia Low and some of the cast.
The film’s running time is 74 minutes and the rating is MA15plus.
https://www.somehappydayfilm.com
https://www.ritzcinemas.com.au