MOSLEY: THE KIRBY ATKINS INTERVIEW

Sometimes the most meaningful journeys come from the humblest beginnings. Twenty years ago, a young animator named Kirby Atkins, drawing upon both his own upbringing and new life as a parent, began crafting a story about a species of domesticated creatures called Thoriphants, bound by human chains but always clinging to their rich heritage and powerful tribal bonds. The result is Mosley, a thrilling and very moving celebration of family and destiny that was brought to life as a $US20million New Zealand/Chinese co-production “They are absolutely phenomenal,” says Atkins of his Chinese artists. “I had five studios in China that were doing animation for me remotely.”

SCREEN-SPACE chatted at length with Atkins (pictured, above) only a few hours before the 2019 Asia Pacific Screen Awards, for which Mosley had earned a Best Animated Film nomination.  

SCREEN-SPACE: What did you base the design and functionality of the Thoriphants upon? What research went into their movements?

ATKINS: I wanted Thoriphants to feel like something that you hadn't seen before, but also to feel familiar as soon as you saw them. Most of their body is very elephant-like and there's this certain nobility that is attached to elephants and elephant bodies. Then there are certain aspects [that are] like donkeys, this sort of melancholy quality. It was about not making something that was going to be bizarre, but something that felt like you could just see grazing in a field somewhere. Yet the whole hook to them is that they can speak, and that their faces are expressive. That's what makes ‘the orphan’ different, at least in the movie, than a horse or an ox or anything like that.

SCREEN-SPACE: I believe that Thoriphants want to be like humans, but they want to be the best part of humans. They're striving to be upright and to have hands, but also to represent what's best about us.

ATKINS: A good thing about fairy tales and fables is that people read their own story into them, and there are no wrong answers to that. The concept of standing upright, if you were to take the angle of social injustice, recalls the experience of being black in America. Where you feel like you're treated like shit in one part of the world, but you were kings in another part of the world. It's about discovering what you are meant to be, and using the concept of evolution or devolution as a means to say, "How tragic would it be that you couldn't evolve as far as your heart was meant to go." That existential longing of wanting to recapture the thing that you were intended to be, and not the thing that you turned out to be. You can apply that to any working stiff out in the world who feels like he was meant for greater things. That allegory can be very personal or you can talk about societies like the Maori in New Zealand or the native American experience. People reclaiming dignity based upon a heritage, haunted by the fact that life was not meant to be this.

SCREEN-SPACE: That first act, the first half hour, is quite dialogue heavy. There's an establishing of character and personality in all the creatures. I sensed then that this movie was, yes, beautiful family entertainment, but also it was going to be deep. It was going to be more from that point on…

ATKINS: I know anime does this all the time, but generally Western animation is pretty much fart jokes; cartoons that you put on to keep the kids busy while you do something else. This is the animated film that I always wanted to see, but it didn't feel like anybody was going to make. Animation can do other things besides comedy, right? And what I've always wanted to see is an animated film that had weight to it. That had teeth to it. It's sort of like the family films that they use to make. I remember when I was a kid watching The NeverEnding Story, there was a scene where the horse drowns in the quicksand, and I was devastated when I saw that and it marked me; for some people it was Bambi that marked them, or Watership Down. [It reinforced] the fact that animation can do drama, can deal with character. Animation is about stylizing an entire narrative in a way that that shouldn’t just be fart jokes, pies in the face, pop songs and pop culture references. Let's just tell a straight story with animation. Let's let the tense parts be tense. The last fight in Mosley, I wanted it to feel like a fight, that somebody could get hurt, not a fight in a cartoon movie. There's something about cartoon and cartoon physics that allows you to think, "None of this is real, nobody's going to get hurt." And I wanted you to forget that you were watching animation.

SCREEN-SPACE: You set the emotional stakes very high from the start. The auction scene is a heartbreaker…

ATKINS: Exactly. You're going to care about this movie in the first two minutes, or this isn't going to be worth your time. I want the audience sucked in and engaged, and rooting for these characters to make it as soon as I can. And so that opening sequence was all about that. Obviously comedy follows pretty quickly. But that first sequence I wanted to knock the breath out of you. So you're going, "Okay, this movie's not playing around. This is going to be a real story. This isn't just packing peanuts (laughs)."

SCREEN-SPACE: A voice-cast like Rhys Darby, Lucy Lawless, John Rhys-Davies and Temuera Morrison is remarkable…

ATKINS: I'll tell you, it was a blast! Sonically, think about what you have. John Rhys-Davies, Mr. Classically trained, I- Claudius, Lord of the Rings, an Old Vic kind of actor, right? And then you have Rhys, Mr. Improvisation, think on the spot, come up with some gag right there. You put them together, you’re going to have peanut butter and chocolate; a whole new flavour comes out. There’s very little that goes off the script, but there are about three or four moments where they added a line or something. And it just wasn't Rhys, but John did some of this too, and it was pure gold. And everybody was in the room together. I worked on Warner Brothers’ The Ant Bully and we had Julia Roberts and Nick Cage, right? They were never in the room together. And usually good actors can make it sound sort of natural, right? But I knew that if I got Rhys Darby and John Rhys-Davies in a room together, bouncing off of each other, I knew nothing but good was going to come out of that. I don't know if you remember these lines, but there's like, "You distract, I'll ambush,” then “Your whole life has been a distraction." And John made up that line. (Picture above, from left; Atkins, editor Kathy Toon, and actors John Rhys-Davies and Rhys Darby) 

SCREEN-SPACE: Mosley is every bit as good as most of the things that Disney Pixar puts out; better than the last few, quite frankly. One opinion suggests maybe this kind of film wouldn't be made without the path laid by Disney Pixar. Then there's the shadow that Disney Pixar casts and how tough it can be to break away from that legacy…

ATKINS: Yeah, I'll tell you, the industry is fickle in this regard. Another Disney film will come out and you’ll hear, "Oh God, why does everything have to be like Disney?" And there’s me saying, "Well, this isn't like Disney. We'll make something." And they're like, "Well, why isn't it more like Disney?" Sometimes you can't win, right? (laughs) People who work in animation want animation to do more. The invisible powers in the larger studios that fund animation stories [determine that they] must be attached to a pre-existing franchise or some sort of merchandising. Generally, studios create such narrow categories for animation. But my editor, Kathy Toon, came from Pixar, moving to New Zealand to make Mosley. My animation director Manuel Aparicio came from Walt Disney, from working on Moana. So all of these guys came for the express purpose of going, "This is the sort of movie we all wish the industry would make. We can tell stories that are full of heart and whimsy and humor, but they're not just the same old thing. We can tackle big themes. We can have some teeth to it. It can be a little scary." It can be more cinematic in that regard.

MOSLEY will be released April 8 in Australia and New Zealand on DVD and digital platforms; other territories to follow. 

DEADHOUSE DARK IGNITES THE CANNESERIES COMPETITION LINE-UP.

CANNES: Flying the flag for the Australian genre sector at the 2020 Canneseries Short Form Competition will be the highly-anticipated web-series, Deadhouse Dark, created by Australia’s own horror mastermind Enzo Tedeschi. The series is one of ten international entrants in the competitive strand and will face off against productions from Canada, Finland, Sweden, Argentina, Norway, Poland, The USA and France.

Running concurrently with the annual television mega-market MIP-TV, Canneseries takes place from March 27 to April 1. In 2019, the Australian series Over and Out took top honours and was quickly shepherded into long-form development. This year, the judging panel consists of actors Jamie Bamber (Band of Brothers; NCIS; Battlestar Galactica) and Erin Moriarity (True Detective; The Boys) and French director Timothée Hochet (Relationship; Studio Bagel; Calls).

An anthology of six interconnected horror short films, Deadhouse Dark is anchored by a narrative concerning a woman who receives a mystery box via the ‘dark web’; within the box are items that gradually unveil dark and troubling truths. Slated for an online release in late 2020, the project features actors Nicholas Hope, Zoe Carides, Lauren Orrell, Jenny Wu and Barbara Bingham and directors Rachele Wiggins, Rosie Lourde, Megan Riakos, Denai Gracie and Joshua Long. Tedeschi himself steps into the helmer’s chair for the first episode, an online dating-themed chiller called ‘A Tangled Web We Weave’.

"It's an honour to be premiering this project in such a hallowed space,” says Tedeschi (pictured, above), whose status as one of our leading genre producers is unrivalled in the wake of his features, The Tunnel (2011), A Night of Horror Vol. 1 (2015), Skinford (2017) and Event Zero (2017). “It's the perfect way to kick-off getting the series out to audiences. We're also proud to be representing as the only Aussies in the mix of ten series selected from around the globe. I'm hoping we can find the right partners to be able to move into a longer show format as soon as possible."

One of the sectors’ most vibrantly creative young producers, Rachele Wiggins further enhances her industry standing with her debut behind the camera, directing the segment ‘Mystery Box’. “To be recognised internationally at such a prestigious festival is a huge boon for the Australian genre filmmaking community,” says Wiggins, who co-produced Deadhouse Dark with Tedeschi. “I’m incredibly proud of the wonderful mix of diverse creative voices who made [it] possible, most of whom are emerging talents within the industry. A World Premiere at Canneseries will be an opportunity to showcase that talent and get people to see more of what Australia has to offer.” (Pictured, right; clockwise from top left - Rachele Wiggins, Megan Riakos, Rosie Lourde, Joshua Long, Enzo Tedeschi and  Denai Gracie). 

‘That talent’ includes Rosie Lourde, who directs Naomi Sequeira in the unsettling ‘Dashcam_013_20191031.mp4’, a car-crash drama told completely from the perspective of a dashboard camera (pictured, below); Megan Riakos, writer and director of ‘No Pain No Gain’, the story of a competitive runner desperate to win at any costs; Denai Gracie, whose ’The Staircase’ follows a group of adventurers as they face what lurks in the supernatural darkness; and, Joshua Long, director of ‘My Empire Of Dirt’ about a ‘death midwife’ tasked with helping a woman ease into a peaceful death despite being haunted by her past.  

Principal funding was sourced from Screen Australia, with support granted from Screen Queensland and Silent Assassin Films. Especially developed for an online audience, Deadhouse Dark reflects the changing nature of industry investment, with government funds for the sector increasingly slated for non-theatrical projects. The project provides further evidence of Screen Australia's ongoing re-definition of the production sector, as detailed by Screen Australia's CEO Graeme Mason's recent comments regarding funding and sector development at the Berlin Film Festival. 

Established in 2018, the Canneseries Festival was formed with the aim of becoming the voice of the new, popular and ultra-creative short-form visual storytelling, by spotlighting new, promising and innovative formats.  The award of Best Short Form Series will be handed out during the festival's Closing Ceremony, which will be broadcast on French broadcast giant, Canal +.

SEBERG: THE BENEDICT ANDREWS INTERVIEW

The new film from Australian filmmaker Benedict Andrews explores a time in modern American history when those elected to enforce the will of the people instead turned on society’s progressive left. It was 1969, and the symbolic target of the conservative law enforcers was actress Jean Seberg, an expat American adored by those of her adopted homeland, France, but targeted by The F.B.I. for her views on racial injustice. Starring a remarkable Kristen Stewart, SEBERG captures an America at the dawn of a new, darker time and the young woman who bore the brunt of that shift in values. 

Fittingly, SCREEN-SPACE spoke to Andrews as the impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump kicked off. “Over the course of production, history felt like it was accelerating at such a terrifying pace and things in the movie seemed to become more and more relevant,” said the director, from his home in Iceland, “It reflected a deliberate manipulation and lying and you see that in an institutional way.”

SCREEN-SPACE: At the Deauville Film Festival press conference, your leading lady defined Jean Seberg as impulsive, idealistic, naive, but well intentioned. Was Seberg the right sort of superstar at the wrong point in American history?

ANDREWS: Oh, that's an interesting question. The movie is certainly quite transparent about impulsive aspects of her behaviour that might have led her into the mixing up of her romantic life and her political life. But I don't believe that that was what caused the FBI to destroy her. The character ‘Hakim Jamal’ (played by Anthony Mackie) says that she got caught in the crossfire of white America's war on black America. You had a very conservative, reactionary, racist FBI mandate in the COINTELPRO program to basically destroy any chance of black power and change in America, and she allowed herself to be involved in that. Her husband, Romain Gary, said that she had a case of sympathy at first sight and I think she genuinely couldn't stand the injustice in America and unequal playing field in terms of race. So I believe everything that she was doing there was actually extremely well intentioned and from a really strong, clear place. And I think she believed in truth and she believed in having a voice. (pictured, above; Kirsten Stewart as Jean Seberg)

SCREEN-SPACE: Her activism had a public face, via her celebrity, but also a very private, personal aspect…

ANDREWS: I think she genuinely couldn't stand the injustice in America and unequal playing field in terms of race. And, yes, a lot of her activism was relatively private if you compare to her to a much more outspoken, perhaps even grandstanding figure like Jane Fonda. The activism is very much of her time too. It's what became derided by Tom Wolfe [who] invented this derogatory term of ‘radical chic’ for the big Hollywood people being involved in politics. But I think that was very much a move of the Conservative Right’s to undercut [activism], certainly in Jean's case. He wrote that about a buddy of Leonard Bernstein's case and I think there were just attacks on an engaged left within the cultural industry. (Pictured, above; Jean Seberg)

SCREEN-SPACE: Your film comes along at a time when US politics and its very dark undercurrent is being exposed. Does that put a spotlight on this film's view on American politics? Does it give it a pertinent relevance that you may not have otherwise counted on?

ANDREWS: I always kind of knew that 1969 was going to speak to 2019. Jean says, "America, this country's at war with itself." On one hand, the unresolved questions of racial injustice in America, but more especially the question of what we see in the movie, in an embryonic DNA form, the culture that we now live in. You see all the seeds of a culture of mass surveillance. In a very personal way, our narrative shows what happens when privacy is violated and weaponized and turned against somebody for their beliefs. And we see the horrific cost of that in the emotional toll on Jean and the political cost of that in terms of the relationships that are undermined and destroyed. That's something that in a terrifying way is speaking to our times.

SCREEN-SPACE: I get the feeling that there's a lot of people in Washington at the moment who are a lot like FBI agent Jack (played by Jack O’Connell) – patriots torn between allegiance and morality.

ANDREWS: That's what I think is really interesting. There's an echo of an Edward Snowden in there and I was quite aware that the story was ultimately, in a way, going to be about truth. In these early stages of the impeachment hearings, we’re seeing these career bureaucrats stepping up and saying, "Actually I have to speak the truth, even if I'm going to risk something in that. I don't believe in what's going on." And Jack goes from [being] a soldier who believes in the war, to realizing that the institution he's in is fighting a dirty war that he can't believe in any anymore.

SCREEN-SPACE: I'm hopeful that if any good is going to come out of the current political climate, it will be a return to what I think is the last great era of American filmmaking, the 1970s, and cinema's strength at interpreting the times; films like The Parallax View, The Conversation, All the President’s Men. Hopefully Seberg is at the forefront of a new introspection in our cinema.

ANDREWS: I hope so. They were very important movies for me in this. I mean you've touched upon nearly all of them. Medium Cool was also really important for me, which is a little looser, freer film, in a way. I love the tensions of those cooler thrillers. Klute was really important, too, because it has a woman at the centre of it and that strange relationship with her and Donald Sutherland that reminded me of the Jean/Jack relationship. Those films are so important because they come at a time of absolute crisis in the political identity of the country. We used the similar lenses, the Panavision C-series lenses in order to reference them and we have a couple of nods to The Conversation. One of my favourite shots in the movie is where the camera drifts through the van, Jack's there and the two black girls come up and do their makeup. That's a really deliberate homage to a scene where Gene Hackman's looking out and you see the two women come and do their makeup. It's just a beautiful metaphor for the screen of cinema, but also it shows us the drug of surveillance that Jack has there, which you don't want the audience to think about this while they're watching It's exactly the same drug they have watching on a screen. (Pictured, above; Stewart and Andrews, on-set)

SCREEN-SPACE: We should have a chat about your leading lady. I love the line describing Jean that says she's bigger in France than she is here and that talks very much to Kristen. What was the methodology you and she employed in crafting the Seberg character?

ANDREWS: Yeah, she was the perfect fit. There is no version of this movie without her in it. I think that the movies happen when they're meant to happen. This was a story that people have been trying to get made at different points in time and the script had a couple of other lives before I came on board. I really believe that things come to life when the film gods want them to; the political relevance of the movie is one of those reasons, but the other really is Kristen. It's kind of a miracle to have this young American actress who has an understanding of what it means to work in mainstream Hollywood and to work in French cinema. I think she and Jean Seberg, and maybe Jane Fonda, are the only people to achieve that. For both of them to be style icons, for both of them to have this forward looking yet classical fashion sense and both of them have such a singular idiosyncratic and androgynous look was also just incredible. They were both thrust into the public eye at a very tender age, Jean with the competition for the Saint Joan film of Preminger and Kristen obviously following on from the Fincher movie (Panic Room) with the Twilight films and both of them, perhaps Jean more so, had a tough time with the domestic press, were both treated a bit unfairly. (Pictured, above; l-r, Anthony Mackie, Zazie Beetz, Stewart, Andrews, Jack O'Connell and Margaret Qualley)

SCREEN-SPACE: Her unconventionality suits a film that is an unconventional biopic.

ANDREWS: I'm bored shitless of one-way biopics. And I was never interested in an actress who would only do an impersonation. I knew very quickly from Kristen and just also having an impulse about the type of actress that she was that that wasn't really the case. We were going to be able to find Jean together from the inside out. And I'm just so incredibly impressed and proud of how she puts herself on the line and how in this performance she transforms in a way that she hasn't in other movies. She has a huge emotional range in it. We watched a lot of Jean's films together. She had a voice coach, but we decided to only make the smallest alteration to her voice. She was just really prepared to put herself on the line and to really go there. And I felt we just had a really good trust and then this special thing happened that you hope for in a director, actor relationship, where it starts to become a dance.

SEBERG is in selected Australian cinemas from January 30 through ICON Films.

WILDCAT! THE RESURRECTION OF THE FILMS OF MARJOE GORTNER

‘Marjoe Gortner’ is not a name often mentioned when the Hollywood A-list of the swingin’ ‘70s and ‘80s is recalled, but at the time, the Californian native was very much part of the scene. Having soared to notoriety/fame in the wake of the Oscar-winning documentary Marjoe (1972), the gripping expose of the boy-preacher whose name is an amalgam of ‘Mary’ and ‘Joseph’, the charismatic showman turned to acting. His golden mane and pearly whites were seen in Earthquake (1974), Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw (1976), Food of The Gods (1976) and Viva Knievel! (1977); in 1978, he made his worst film, the now infamous Star Wars rip-off, Starcrash, and his best, When You Comin’ Back, Red Ryder? The enigmatic star then spent three decades guest-starring in episodic television and riding the home video boom years with bit parts in B-movies with names like Mausoleum (1983), Jungle Warriors (1984), Hellhole (1985) and American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt (1989).

John Harrison has been intrigued by the larger-than-life presence of the child-evangelist-turned-movie star for all of those decades. The Melbourne-based author, whose encyclopaedic knowledge of and passion for the pulp extrtemiries of society has made him one of the most respected figures in Australia’s counter-culture community, examines the actor’s early life and filmography in his recently-published book, WILDCAT! The Films of Marjoe Gortner. “His story is a unique one,” Harrison (pictured, below) told SCREEN-SPACE, “so he will endure.”

SCREEN-SPACE:  Why does Marjoe Gortner hold such a fascination for you?

JOHN: I guess my fascination with Marjoe Gortner began from the first time I saw him, when I snuck off into the city as a kid to see a double-bill of Squirm (1976) and Food of the Gods (1976). Marjoe’s leading role in the later really appealed to me, as did his striking looks and rather exotic name. There just seemed to be a unique air that surrounded him on screen, and whenever I saw his name show up on a movie poster or as a guest star in the opening credits of a TV show, I always made it a point to watch it, even if it was something I wouldn’t normally have much interest in.

However, it wasn’t until I accidently caught a late-night TV screening of When You Comin’ Back, Red Ryder? (1979) in the late-80s that I really began to investigate Marjoe’s career further. That film had such an impact on me, I was working part-time at a video store in St. Kilda at the time, and when I went in to work the next day and discovered we had the Roadshow VHS of When You Comin’ Back, Red Ryder? on the shelf, I pretty much played it on the shop’s TV constantly, and took it home at least once a week to watch and study it properly. When the video store eventually closed its doors, the owner said I could take any five VHS tapes from the shelves, so of course Red Ryder was the first tape I went for, and still have it in the collection today.

Marjoe was still just an actor in my head at this point. It was in the early-90s that I first became aware of his past as a child preacher and evangelist, which naturally only made him more interesting to study, since acting and preaching both involve performance and playing a character and convincing people you are something or someone that you really aren’t.

SCREEN-SPACE:  Was he an actor? An opportunist? A businessman, supremely skilled at selling himself? How does he fit in the landscape of 70s/80s Hollywood?

JOHN: I think the most accurate answer would be that he was a combination of these things. He was certainly an opportunist, using his notoriety as a child preacher and the success of the 1972 documentary about him as a springboard to Hollywood. But it certainly wasn’t just a chance thing, he had been taking acting and singing lessons well before the documentary hit. He was also definitely a businessman, and a pretty good one. After seeing none of the untold sums of money that he brought in during his child preaching days (most of which was taken by his father after he spilt), Marjoe made sure people never took financial advantage of him ever again.  Bobbie Bresse, the actress he starred opposite in Mausoleum (1983), once relayed in an issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland that Marjoe told her to always get the money up front, and said every week a long black limo would pull up onto the set and two guys would step out and deliver a big black bag, filled with what she assumed was money, directly to Marjoe’s trailer! (Pictured, above; Gortner as 'Jody' in Earthquake)

As for how he fits into the overall landscape of the Hollywood of his era, I would say that he has definitely earned his place in pop culture. His early years were well documented on film, in print and on record albums, and a lot of the films and television shows he worked on have become cult classics of a kind. He was definitely of his time, and the fact that he completely turned his back on performing in the late-90s and now refuses to talk about or even acknowledge his past as either a preacher or an actor, only adds to his mystique.

SCREEN-SPACE:  For those new to the Greatness of Gortner, which film should be the entry point?

JOHN: I would have to go with When You Comin’ Back, Red Ryder (1979; pictured, right, Gortner with co-stars Hal Linden and Lee Grant). It is easily his best onscreen performance and it’s such a galvanizing film. Marjoe is truly terrifying in it, and he is surrounded by a great ensemble cast that really breathe life and tension into the characters and story, which was adapted by Mark Medoff from his stage play.

Of course, the Oscar-winning documentary Marjoe (1972) is also essential viewing for anyone wanting to understand the Marjoe mythos, and if you want to see him in something that is just plain 70s genre fun you can’t go past watching him fend off giant chickens with a pitchfork in Food of the Gods (1976).

SCREEN-SPACE:  If there is a perception of Marjoe that you hope people take from your book, what would it be?

JOHN: While my book naturally covers Marjoe’s childhood and days as a child preacher, I wasn’t interested in writing some tell-all about his private life. Wildcat! is an examination of his filmography, so I hope it will give readers an appreciation of his work and just how prolific and diverse he was during his time in Hollywood. I hope people will use it in the same way that I used books like The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film and Incredibly Strange Films in the 80s, as a roadmap to seek out some films or TV shows they may not have been aware of, or completely forgotten about. And to discover a new appreciation for them, and in turn, Marjoe.

WILDCAT! The Films of Marjoe Gortner is available via its publisher, BearManor Media, Amazon, and wherever all good books are sold.

PREVIEW: 2020 SCREENWAVE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

The pure love for the magic of cinema with which the Screenwave International Film Festival (SWIFF) has always been curated is more evident than ever in 2020. Launching January 9 in Coffs Harbour and Bellingen on the New South Wales’ mid north coast, the 5^th annual SWIFF will present 72 feature films from 20 countries over 15 days in a program that solidifies the regional community’s film celebration as one of Australia’s most important cultural events.

“For as long as I can remember, I’ve been in love with films,” says Festival Co-director Kate Howat who, with partner and fellow co-director Dave Horsley (pictured, below; left, with Howat) handling logistics, spends the best part of her year sourcing acclaimed local and international works. “This is a festival by film lovers for film lovers. Even if you don’t know it yet, I guarantee there’s something here just for you.”

Adds Horsley, “In an ever-shifting cinemascape, [with] lots of interesting conversations going on between streaming services and cinemas, one thing is clear - films are playing a bigger role in our lives.” He cites the year-to-year growth of attendance numbers as evidence of just how crucial film festival culture is to the diverse demographics of the region. “To see the festival turn such a significant corner – with over 70% of all weekend sessions sold out last year – gives the greenlight for the boldest and biggest SWIFF line-up yet.”

That bold approach can be seen in the films chosen to top and tail this year’s roster. Opening Night honours have gone to Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit, a sweet natured if occasionally caustic coming-of-age tale set in Nazi Germany, featuring Der Führer (played with typical satirical verve by the director) as the buffoonish imaginary friend of an impressionable, nationalistic Aryan boy (Roman Griffin Davis).

Closing out the festival will be one of the few big screen sessions afforded Justin Kurzel’s hotly-anticipated, critically-lauded True History of the Kelly Gang, starring George McKay, Essie Davis, Nicholas Hoult, Charlie Hunnam and Russell Crowe. Festivalgoers will join the growing legion of fans of Thomasin McKenzie, with the New Zealand actress playing key roles in both films.

The World Premiere of Ryan Jasper’s debut feature doc Monks of The Sacred Valley emerges as the centerpiece film in SWIFF’s Australian film strand, which features twelve of the year’s most acclaimed domestic efforts. Set to unspool are Josephine Macerras’ festival-circuit hit, Alice; Jennifer Kent’s brutal revenge thriller, The Nightingale; the human-trafficking saga Bouyancy, with director Rodd Rathjen attending to discuss the making of his Berlinale award winner; and, Maya Newell’s In My Blood it Runs (pictured, right), an intimate study of 10 year-old indigenous boy Dujuan’s struggle to reconcile his heritage and contemporary culture.

Earning its stripes as a global film event, SWIFF will screen new works from such revered auteurs as Terrence Malick (A Hidden Life); Francois Ozon (By The Grace of God); Olivier Assayas (Non-Fiction, with Juliette Binoche); Pedro Almodovar (Pain and Glory, with Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz); and, Ken Loach (Sorry We Missed You). Anticipating huge demand amongst local cinephiles, three sessions have been locked in for Celine Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire, the moment’s most talked-about arthouse hit and winner of the Cannes’ Best Screenplay and Queer Palm honours in 2019. Says Howat, “[It’s] a burning testament to love and friendship with an ecstatic ending for the ages.”

There is a darker hue to the SWIFF 2020 line-up with some of the year’s most challenging works playing in strands designed for the more fearless filmgoer. The weird and wonderful films in the ‘Wild Side’ line-up include Nicholas Cage and Joely Richardson in renegade director Richard Stanley’s adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s parasitic alien invasion head trip, Colour Out of Space and wild and crazy director Gaspar Noe’s reverse-cut re-edit of his shocking masterwork, now titled Irreversible: Inversion Integrale. The strand ‘Let’s Talk About Sects’ will feature director Ari Aster’s cut of Midsommar, with a whopping 22-minutes of flowers, folk music and full-daylight gore reinstated into the wildly-divisive original version. Also slated is Australian Pia Borg’s short Demonic, a look back at the Satanic Panic hysteria of the 1980s, set to play in a double-feature session with co-directors Britt Poulton and Dan Madison Savage’s cult-commune drama, Them That Follow, starring Australian actress Alice Englert; pictured, above).

Two very different takes on ‘Classic Cinema’ will highlight the Retrospective sessions at SWIFF 2020. The brilliance of Italian film maestro Frederico Fellini will be celebrated with screenings of his classics 8½ (1983) and La Dolce Vita (1960), while arguably the greatest silly comedy of all time, Airplane! (aka Flying High!) from the twisted minds of the Zucker/Abrahams team, will be celebrated with a one-off 40^th anniversary screening.

The 2020 Screenwave International Film Festival runs January 9-24 at the Jetty Memorial Theatre, Coffs Harbour, and the Bellingen Memorial Hall, Bellingen. Full program details, session times and ticketing information can be found on the official website.