Australian selection at Locarno
The Locarno International Film Festival has announced its program for 2008, which includes the selection of two Australian films.
The Eternity Man (w/d: Julien Temple) will have its international premiere in the Piazza Grande section of the festival. The films in this section screen in an open-air cinema setting that can accommodate more than 8,000 viewers. Each film in this section will compete for the prestigious Prix du Public UBS Award that is voted by the Piazza audience.
The second Australian project, the short film Directions (w/d: Kasimir Burgess), will be one of 23 films from 20 different countries to screen in the Leopards of Tomorrow – International Competition.
Both films have had success on the domestic festival circuit with The Eternity Man selected for the Sydney Film Festival and the Melbourne International Film Festival, while Directions has been selected for the Melbourne and Brisbane International Film Festivals.
The Locarno International Film Festival will run 6 – 16 August 2008.
THE ETERNITY MAN
64 min
Goalpost Pictures Australia
Writer / Director Julien Temple
Producers Rosemary Blight and John Wyver
Distributor Madman
International Sales ABC International
Finance Film Finance Corporation, New South Wales Film & Television Office, ABCTV and Channel 4
Cast Grant Doyle, Christa Hughes
Synopsis The story of Arthur Stace, The Eternity Man runs like a song-line through 20th century Sydney history. Spanning four decades, Arthur Stace’s nocturnal mission to chalk his timeless message on the city streets captured its changing soul, and to this day his journey remains one of its most inspiring stories.
DIRECTIONS
15 min
Writer / Director Kasimir Burgess
Producer Chris Kamen
Finance Australian Film Commission
Cast Gregory Muller, Vivienne Benton, Lezleigh Green, Peggy O’Shea
Synopsis When a man’s mother fails to pick him up from the supermarket, he decides to walk home. What should have been a brief stroll soon becomes a nightmarish battle with a faulty trolley. Our man becomes lost and embarks upon a journey of grand proportions.