The St Kilda Film Festival unreels a dynamic and diverse nine-day online event, which, for the first time, audiences throughout Australia will be able to enjoy when it screens free online from Friday 12 June to Saturday 20 June.
Highlights include:
Nothing to do with the musical, TOMMY is the emotionally-charged story of a young boy and his imaginary friend caught in the middle of a nasty custody battle.
In an effort to dodge the depth charges of domestic violence, young Tommy immerses himself in a fantasy submarine apparently skippered by a tiger called Terry.
Unable to fathom his mother’s new same sex relationship or his father’s substance abuse and their constant state of war, Tommy escapes the conflicting parents by submerging reality into fantasy, an escape all too easily torpedoed by antagonistic adults.
AFTER THE AWAY is also about fantasy and escape, in this instance a shared wish fulfilment where two boys have the ability to disappear to their own place in the forest. When they get caught skipping school they are thrust into a world of prejudice and discrimination causing them to question what their friendship and special place means. Directed by Home & Away alumni, Sacha Vivian-Riding
A woman is told much more about the pieces and painters through an art gallery-issued audio guide in the appropriately titled AUDIO GUIDE. Starring the luminously photogenic Emma Wright, with Nyx Calder as the honeyed voice of the titular audio guide, AUDIO GUIDE is a bewitching and beguiling bridge between image and sound, as intriguing and imaginative as a Twilight Zone episode.
RING has a Hitchcockian aspect to it, of neighbourhood nefariousness linked to voluntary voyeurism, where a video doorbell peephole spies on a new couple across the hall as their relationship seemingly takes a dark turn.
STRANGERS will strike a chord for those dealing with elderly parents and the secrets and desires unleashed when long term memory obliterates the short term and filtering fails.
The past is the new present for Lillian but when she is found in bed with another old woman at her aged care facility, the future isn’t what it used to be. The facility only see the risks and inform Lillian’s children, Stewart and Adrienne, of their decision to transfer their mother to another home.
The siblings struggle to process their mother’s complicated sexuality and to work out the right thing to do and try to draw answers from Lillian, but Mum has left the building, in nostalgic phantasm.
Sophie Saville’s PEACH sees a socially anxious young woman landing a hot date, only she’s not sure if it’s actually a date. PEACH is a funny examination of the perils of dating, misreading signs and erring on the side of caution.
A totally unambiguous title, DIANA – THE ONLY FEMALE PROFESSIONAL BOXER IN UGANDA, is about, you guessed it, Diana, the only female professional boxer in Uganda.
Bullied and desperate, Diana donned the gloves and stepped into the ring in a bout of self realisation and self defence.
From slum despair to pugilistic princess, Diana showed prowess in the glove game and qualified for the Olympics, only to be Kayoed by her own government because of her gender.
Nevertheless, Diana turned to the ‘Rhino Boxing Club’ and transformed herself into the only professional female boxer in Uganda. On behalf of a new generation of female boxers she is on a mission for the emancipation of women in Uganda to don the gloves and become bona fide greats of the biff.
At four minutes run time, DIANA – THE ONLY FEMALE PROFESSIONAL BOXER IN UGANDA punches well above its weight.
The Festival also looks back at the early career films of Jane Campion and Phillip Noyce including Campion’s Palme D’Or winner Peel and Noyce’s debut feature as a director Backroads starring Gary Foley and the late Bill Hunter.
The 2020 St Kilda Film Festival runs 12 June to 20 June. All films and programs will be available to watch FREE via the St Kilda Film Festival website. Content will only be accessible within Australia.
For full program information, visit www.stkildafilmfestival.com.au