CinefestOZ has unveiled the finalists for this year’s $100,000 film prize, with Sean McDonald’s Bromley: Light After Dark, Matt Vesely’s Monolith, Noora Niasari’s Shayda and Mark Leonard Winter’s The Rooster vying for the award.
Monolith, Shayda and The Rooster will come to CinefestOZ direct from the Melbourne International Film Festival while Bromley: Light After Dark will have its world premiere at the WA event, which will take place from August 29 to September 3.
CinefestOZ CEO Cassandra Jordan said the films all featured explorations of “personal identity through unique, clever and compelling storytelling and filmmaking, which made them the standouts from this year’s submissions for film prize”.
McDonald’s documentary, which was produced by Clare Plueckhahn and Cathy Rodda, centres on the journey of artist David Bromley from a lost soul to being able to appease the voices in his head through art, which helps him rediscover beauty in the world.
Discovering a new world of possibilities is also central to Shayda, which stars Zar Amir-Ebrahimi (Holy Spider) as a young Iranian mother who finds refuge with her six-year-old daughter Mona (Selina Zahednia) in an Australian women’s shelter during the two weeks of Iranian New Year.
Aided by the strong community of women at the refuge, they seek their freedom in this new world of possibilities, only to find themselves facing the violence they tried so hard to escape – namely Hossein, Shayda’s domineering and abusive husband (Osamah Sami), who seeks to be reunited with his daughter. Vincent Sheehan produced Shayda through Origma 45, with Dirty Films’ Cate Blanchett, Andrew Upton, and Coco Francini serving as executive producers.
Fellow MIFF Premiere Fund film The Rooster follows small-town cop Dan (Phoenix Raei), whose oldest friend is found buried in a shallow grave. Dan seeks answers from a volatile hermit (Hugo Weaving), who was the last person to see his friend alive. Written by Winter, who also makes his feature directorial debut, the film is produced by Geraldine Hakewill and MahVeen Shahraki for the latter’s company Thousand Mile Productions, with Susie Montague-Delaney, Patrick James, and Michael Kantor serving as executive producers.
Rounding out this year’s finalists is sci-fi thriller Monolith, which stars Lily Sullivan as a disgraced journalist who turns to podcasting to try and rebuild her career. Her rush to generate headlines soon uncovers a strange artifact, an alien conspiracy, and the lies at the heart of her own story. Lucy Campbell penned the screenplay, with Bettina Hamilton producing. Monolith was the first produced project from the South Australian Film Corporation and AFF’s Film Lab: New Voices development program.
Each finalist will be reviewed by a jury of film industry experts as part of each film’s premiere public screening, while also being paired with an In Conversation dining experience, where the filmmakers will share with guests how they brought their projects to life.
The winner of the CinefestOZ 2023 Film Prize will be announced on Saturday, September 2 as part of the Festival’s Film Prize Award Celebration.
The full program for this year’s CinefestOZ will be announced on July 20. Early bird tickets for a range of events are now available.