Iron Spyder.
Iron Spyder, a short film directed and produced by Melbourne filmmakers Christopher Mitchell and Yoav Lester, has made its world premiere at the US’s biggest genre festival, Fantastic Fest.
Shot at an underground wrestling event in Melbourne, the film blurs documentary and drama as it follows a young wrestler’s experiences on fight night.
Mitchell said his two biggest directorial influences in making the film were Terrence Malik and Gaspar Noé.
The film’s score was composed by Mick Harvey (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, PJ Harvey) and Michael Lira (The Hunter, Wyrmwood) with sound design from Big Bang Sound’s Wayne Pashley (Mad Max: Fury Road, The Lego Movie) and cinematography by veteran Australian camera operator Leigh Mackenzie (The Thin Red Line, Blood Diamond).
“We were lucky enough to secure our DOP Leigh Mackenzie – who in fact shot a great deal of The Thin Red Line – purely by coincidence when our original DOP had to pull the day before the shoot minute due to an injury,” said Lester.
“We had over eight Reds and camera operators rolling during the shoot [and] Leigh’s years of experience on set, as well as innate knowledge of how to cover a fight scene, contributed so much to the success of the film,” said Mitchell.
Mitchell and Lester previously collaborated on black comedy Start.Options.Exit.
Other Australian films to screen at Fantastic Fest include Down Under and Shane Abbess’ Science Fiction Volume One: The Osiris Child.
Safe Neighbourhood, produced by Abbess and shot at Sydney’s Fox Studios earlier this year, also debuted in Austin and won strong reviews.