Director Justin Kurzel’s Nitram depicts the events leading up to one of the darkest chapters in Australian history, in an attempt to understand why and how this atrocity occurred.
Written by Shaun Grant, the feature film, due to premiere in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, stars Caleb Landry Jones, Essie Davis, Judy Davis and Anthony LaPaglia. It is the first Australian film to compete for the Palme d’Or in a decade.
Nitram is a Good Thing Productions film in conjunction with Stan, produced by Nick Batzias and Virgina Whitwell with Kurzel and Grant.
In a statement, the filmmakers commented: “Nitram was written as a response to the proliferation of regular mass shootings across the world and is an exploration of the issues and events that led to this atrocity, rather than a re-enactment of it, to bring the gun control debate to the fore and to try to ensure history does not repeat itself.”
Nitram will make its Australian premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival in August, followed shortly by a theatrical release via Madman Entertainment.