Stranded

Director: Stuart McDonald
Producers: Beth Frey; Lizette Atkins
Writer: Kathleen O'Brien
Cast: Emma Lung, Emily Browning, Robert Morgan, David Hoflin

Runtime: 52 minutes
Country: Australia
Language: English
Festivals: Shanghai TV Festival, Emma Lung: Best Actress
Sydney International Film Festival, Dendy Award for Best Long Short
Australian Film Institute Awards 2006, Best Short Fiction

STRANDED is a 52 minute short feature film starring Emma Lung (PEACHES, HOUSE OF WAX), Emily Browning(LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS, GHOST SHIP),  Robert Morgan (THE PROPOSITION, BOOK OF REVELATIONS) and David Hoflin (SWIMMING UPSTREAM,OCEANGIRL).

How long does it take before the abnormal seems normal? Death, love and family values are all up for re-negotiation in this dark and unusual black comedy about a girl trying to start a new life for herself after the loss of her mother.

Seventeen-year old Claudia (EMMA LUNG) lives in a world of no job, no school, no money, indoor aviary and crazy territorial fights with her younger sister Penny (EMILY BROWNING). Since her mother’s death the year before Penny won’t go to school and her father Rex (ROBERT MORGAN) simply won’t get off the couch.

When two children are dumped on the family, Claudia moves into her mother’s abandoned car in the driveway. She plans to fix it and take off to tropical Queensland – that’s if she can side step the Christian do-gooders and avoid falling in love with the cute Kleptomaniac (DAVID HOFLIN) who works at the local Supermarket.

Claudia’s plans are further interrupted when the two little kids accidentally kill a favourite pet, Rex sinks further into depression, and Penny begins a course of stealing and drug taking. Adding to her problems, Cam spends the night and things between them become far too intense.

In a heart-wrenching climax, Claudia leaves and finds herself in a Motel Room questioning the value of her own life and her mother’s tragic death. She finally resolves to go back and deal with her situation but finds the family in an even greater state of chaos.

The lecherous woman, her two kids and the church workers have  returned and it looks like Rex is letting them take over the house.  Will Claudia ever be able to face her feelings towards Cam and her mother and make it to Queensland? 

The Heartbreak Tour

Writer & Director: Ben Chessel
Producers: Joanna Werner & Jason Byrne
Cast: Toby Schmitz, Caroline Craig, Nathaniel Dean, Alexandra Schepisi, Anthony Hayes, Daniela Farinacci, Syd Brisbane

Runtime: 52 minutes
Country: Australia
Language: English

They embark on a tour, in Ryan’s shithouse car, of their personal emotional sacred sites, the venues of their great romantic disasters. They visit whichever place is next,whichever is closest, in a random wander across the city and through their twenties. Much of the story unfolds inthe past but it quickly becomes clear that we need to ask,which past? Everybody’s version, even of exactly the same events, proves to be subjective and contradictory. It’s not as important to understand exactly what happened in the past as it is to understand why each of them tells the story that way.

Ryan is the champion of melancholy and defends their right to revel in sadness. Jack maneuvers through the complex landscape with ease. But Jack’s ex-boyfriend Nick is also a player and the events of the night of their break-up become the territory of a battle between them for control of the past. Carmen finds the group, which has been her home for so long, is becoming claustrophobic and Tim hates the game and wants to go home. The car is a bubble, the entire world for them that night as they wander across the map of their memories. Memory provides a way in which we can almost time travel, especially when we combine it with the power of place.

They visit their own emotional sacred sites and tell the stories of their group of friends. As the night gets older old lies are exposed and confessions are made which throws the world of the car into crisis, a coming of age crisis. Some things have to be broken before they can be mended again. But their emotional time travelling might just help them sort it out and the inside of their darker emotions might just help them make it through the long dark night of their twenties

The Glenmoore Job

Writer & Director: Greg Williams
Producers: Melanie Coombs
Cast: Simon Lyndon, Saskia Burmeister, Tom Budge, Michele Fawdon, Ross Thompson

Runtime: 52 minutes
Country: Australia
Language: English
Festivals: Melbourne Travelling Film Festival Geelong: Opening Night Film
Canberra International Film Festival: Official Selection
St Kilda Film Festival: Official Selection.

Simon Lyndonas Warren (CHOPPER, MY BROTHER JACK) Saskia Burmeister as Sally (HATING ALISON ASHLEY) Tom Budge as Peter, Michele Fawdon as Beverley and Ross Thompson as Clem

It's a dirty job, but Warren's got to do it.

After five years inside, Warren would much rather be lying under a palm tree up north, than creeping  around alleys in a hole like Glenmoore. But first he has to deliver on a promise he made to his cellmate Sumo. So now he has a photograph of a girl and a house, and a psychopathic guard dog to make friends  with. One last job.  Should be straightforward. But then he’s forced to join a local support group as part of his parole. Which turns out to mean sitting round playing board games with a bunch of weirdos like Sally, a cat-burglar in training, Tom, a kid with anger problems, and Bev and Clem, a pair of old ducks with a penchant for poker.

Well, Warren can deal with that.  Trouble is, the group doesn’t know how to deal with Warren. They haven’t had a new member in years, let alone one who is a real criminal, and it turns their cosy world upside down. Allegiances get tested, secrets come out, things go missing. And somebody in the group wants Warren gone.

Warren would rather be gone himself, but it’s not easy to get the job done with Sally following him around. She has big career plans, and they involve Warren. He’s not getting away that easily.

Lost and Found

Director: David Blake
Producer: Kate Carmichael & David Blake
Cast: Brett Climo, Frankie J Holden, Nicholas Hope, Sharn Hammond and Rebecca Gibney
Runtime: 90 minutes
Country: Australia
Language: English

Lost and Found – a psychological drama with twists and turns that keep you guessing right to the very end.  McKenzie Morgan is a successful and highly motivated award-winning architect and has the world before him.  Or so it seems. 

At the end of a particularly stressful day, McKenzie has a chance encounter with his girlfriend – being kissed and groped by an exact replica of himself. This encounter leads McKenzie down a path of introspection.   A path that he is reluctant at first to travel, with the consequences being an escalating series of disturbing and destructive encounters with his double, he is finally made to account for his past and in particular, the role he played in the death of his seven-year-old brother.  

McKenzie scrapes rock bottom, and almost too late, recognises that the power of saying sorry  can heal many wounds.

Sum of Existence

Writer & Director: Jon Cohen
Producer: Tim Maddocks
Cast: Brooke Anderson, Simone Kessell, Josh Picker, Angela Carmichael, Oriana Panozzo, Malcolm Frawley
Runtime: 86 minutes
Country: Australia
Language: English

LIZ is a normal teenager that one day gets the unwanted attention of a stalker, ALEX, an orderly at the hospital who's wife has just left him. Liz is attacked and raped by Alex and left to die. Rescued and brought to hospital, she is unable to deal with the assault and tries to kill herself. Her parents enlist the help of Dr. JULIET KING, a young and ambitious psychiatrist, who uses hypnosis to make Liz forget the rape. 

Liz believes that she was in a coma for two months in hospital, and that the scars on her wrists are the attacker's attempts to kill her. Her best friend, MICHELLE, still blames herself, as she didn't walk the whole way home with Liz. Her mother KAREN and father MACK struggle with what happened to their daughter, as their marriage falls apart.

Alex, angered that the hypnosis means his victim will not suffer and remember him for the rest of her life, sets his sights on Juliet, pretending to be traumatised by the sight of Liz when she was brought into the hospital.  As she continues to treat him, she slowly falls in love with him, something she has done with several prior patients... and Alex knows this.

Liz’s mother believes the hypnosis has fundamentally changed her daughter, so lashes out at her when she behaves like a normal teenager, inadvertently blaming her for what happened. Liz, shattered by this betrayal, tries to kill herself, and this returns her to hospital.

As the sub-conscious reasserts the true memories on the fake ones, Liz has a series of fits, hitting and injuring the nurses trying to help her. Juliet, knowing that Liz's brain is destroying itself, removes the hypnotic block, making Liz aware of the reality of the assault. Liz finally gets home, still recovering, but wanting time away from her parents, she and Michelle head to a local hotel for the weekend.

Alex decides to finish his quest to destroy Liz. He pretends that Juliet's hypnotherapy has worked on him. He fools her into playing a kinky game with him and throws her in the boot of his car, drives to Liz's house, knocks out Michelle and so starts a game of cat and mouse between Alex and Liz. Michelle and Juliet free themselves, chasing after the other, leading to a devastating final confrontation between them; where hypnosis is not all it seems.

Bar El Chino

Writers: Daniel Burak & Mario Lion & Beatriz Pustilnik
Director: Daniel Burak
Producer: Vocacio and Adart Producciones
Cast: Juan Pablo Ballinou, Nuria Burak, Roberto Buzzone, Alejandro Crus, Pasta Dioguardi, Alejandro Gruz
Runtime: 100 minutes
Country: Argentina
Language: Spanish

El Chino Bar is a pub with flaking walls where the essence of tango is preserved. Its artists are mythical, especially its creator, Jorge Garcs, known as "El Chino". During his life, El Chino attracted different audiences, who found in the place and the artists the value of authenticity, of genuine feelings, without commercial tricks.

Jorge (47), moviemaker, turns 48; his friends take him to El Chino Bar. They know that the place is special for him. For months he shot images there, trying to capture the essence of the bar, its people and their feelings to make a documentary. So he became friends with the bar's owner, El Chino, and the artists there. Heartbroken, when El Chino died, he decided not to go on with the shooting. Jorge survives on making institutional videos, but he's not really interested in this work.

While he's enjoying the evening at the bar, he sees Martina, a young woman who is shooting some images for TV. At first, she looked indifferent to the place, but she immediately got immersed in the bar's warm atmosphere. The next day, Martina watches the shots she has made, and plans to make a documentary. She finds out that someone has some material filmed before El Chino's death and goes to see him. It's Jorge. After several visits, she suggests making the documentary together. Jorge doesn't look interested at first, but Martina convinces him. Beto, Martina's co-worker with whom she has an occasional relationship, provides the equipment they need. Jorge, encouraged by Martina, offers Jesus the movie, who accepts to buy it and sends him an advanced payment. Martina and Jorge feel happy because they are doing what they really like. They shoot new meetings and feel that the project is bringing them together.

Jesus arrives to Buenos Aires, and complains that the highway construction work is delayed. Martina helps Jorge with this project. After long shooting hours, they enjoy their first night of love. The economic and political situation in Argentina becomes critical. As a limit is set to bank withdrawals ("corralito"), Jorge canÕt withdraw the money Jesus has sent him as an advanced payment for the documentary. There are manifestations in the streets, and Jorge and Martina participate in the pot-banging protests ("cacerolazos"). However, they managed to finish the work for Jesus.

In view of the country's unstable situation, the highway company decides to stop investing and doesn't buy the video. This makes Jesus change his mind about buying El Chino movie. When Jorge learns this, he goes back to the studio. Martina has more bad news: Beto has found out about her relationship with Jorge and decided to stop helping them with the documentary. In spite of the difficulties, they try to finish the documentary project. But Jesus offers Martina a job in Spain, and she accepts. Jorge is disappointed. He says goodbye to her by singing a serenade with the singers of the bar. He gives her a tape with parts of the movie for his son, Nacho. Without Martina, with the money caught in the bank and without the necessary equipment, he quits the project again. He gets depressed and his friends try to help him. When Nacho learns about the situation in Argentina, he travels to Buenos Aires. He has good news: Jorge will become a grandfather. He also gives him a present: Martina has sent him a video where José Sacristán, the Spanish actor and El Chino's friend, speaks about the bar.

Jorge pulls himself together. Before leaving to Spain, Nacho receives a present from his father: "Pichuco", a puppet made by his grandfather, which represents the famous Argentine musician Anibal "Pichuco" Troilo. Nacho also has a present for him: a puppet of El Chino, which Nacho made during his stay in Buenos Aires. Jorge arrives to his house. When he sees a picture of Nacho enjoying himself at El Chino Bar and then watches the documentary images shot, he resolves to continue the shooting.

Mr Brown

Writer & Director: Natasha Guruleva
Producer: Natasha Guruleva
Producer: Vocacio and Adart Producciones
Cast: Niles Ford, Kristen Irby, Olga Tchekachova
Runtime: 83 minutes
Country: United States of America
Language: English

Mr. Brown is a middle-aged handicapped black man in a wheel chair.  He endlessly listens to music, reads books and looks out the window. 

Nothing breaks his monotonous loneliness except for the visits of two helpers – a young Russian woman social worker and a young black man home attendant – who merely do their duties.  But in Mr. Brown’s imagination they all have a passionate affair.  It develops gradually and in Mr. Brown’s world their passion is expressed through the dance