Aaron Pedersen and Jacki Weaver in Goldstone.
Ivan Sen's Goldstone will have its world premiere as the opening night film of the 63rd Sydney Film Festival.
Described as "a stylish and intelligent outback noir", the film will screen at the State Theatre on June 8.
Goldstone is the fourth feature by Ivan Sen and stars Aaron Pedersen, reprising his role of the troubled Indigenous detective Jay Swan, first seen in Sen’s Mystery Road, which opened SFF in 2013.
The film’s cast includes Jacki Weaver, David Wenham, David Gulpilil, Cheng Pei-pei, Michelle Lim Davidson and Tom E. Lewis, and was shot on location in the remote settlement of Middleton (population 3) in outback western Queensland.
On the trail of a missing person, Pedersen's Jay finds himself in the small mining town of Goldstone, where he is immediately arrested for drunk driving by young local cop Josh (Alex Russell). When Jay’s motel room is blasted with gunfire, it becomes clear that something larger is at play in the district. Jay and Josh struggle to overcome their mutual distrust to uncover the unpleasant truth.
Sen wrote, shot, edited and scored the film.
“You get the sense you must offer something special to be invited back to open the festival for a second time, and we hope that Goldstone does do that", Sen said. "It’s an extreme privilege for everyone involved with the film to have this exciting opportunity."
“From experience we know the Sydney Film Festival opening night is a very special screening here in Australia. Goldstone is about us, and our cultural crossroads. The first screening of the film anywhere in the world will be here, at home in our country, on country, where it should be.”
Festival Director Nashen Moodley said, “The Festival is very proud to open with the World Premiere of this outstanding Australian film. Goldstone is a complex and layered work that comes together brilliantly in Ivan Sen’s signature outback noir style.”
Goldstone was produced by David Jowsey and Greer Simpkin, and will be distributed by Transmission Films with a national theatrical release on June 30.
The full SFF program will be announced on Wednesday 11 May at 11am.
Watch the trailer here.