The third feature from Goran Stolevski and South Australian docu-drama Speedway are among the first titles to be confirmed for this year’s Adelaide Film Festival (AFF), taking place October 18-29.
Filmed in his birth country Macedonia, Stolevski’s Housekeeping for Beginners is about a lesbian woman in Macedonia who is forced to raise her dead partner’s two daughters. Causeway Films’ Kristina Ceyton and Sam Jennings co-produce with producers Marija Dimitrova, Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska, Ankica Jurić Tilić, Beata Rzeźniczek, Milan Stojanovic and Blerta Basholli. The drama will have its Australian premiere at AFF, after screening at the Venice International Film Festival.
Fellow Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund film Speedway is a true crime documentary that was filmed across five years between USA and Australia. In what is their feature debut, writer/directors Luke Rynderman and Adam Kamien pursue the truth behind the unsolved quadruple “Burger Chef” murders that occurred in Indiana in 1978. Produced in South Australia by Bonnie McBride, Anna Vincent, Louise Nathanson, and Lisa Scott, the film be presented at the festival’s opening weekend gala.
Other Australian documentaries to screen at this year’s event include Rhys Graham’s Rewards for the Tribe, which follows the collaboration between a group of abled and disabled contemporary dancers from Restless Dance Theatre and Chunky Move and is produced by Molly O’Connor and Philippa Campey. It is joined by Isla’s Way, from director Marion Pilowsky and producer Georgia Humphreys, which pays tribute Isla Roberts, who, at 88 years of age, is a carriage driving champion, grandmother, and all-round legend.
The festival will also host the world premiere of Daniel King’s Her Name Is Nanny Nellie, about a trio of nameless statues made to record a ‘dying race’ buried in the archives of the Australian Museum that trigger a great granddaughter’s quest to honour her ancestors and reclaim their life stories. Producing are Ben Pederick and Andrew Arbuthnot, while Beck Cole serves as the story consultant.
On the narrative side, Indianna Bell and Josiah Allen’s You’ll Never Find Me will have its local premiere, following screenings at Tribeca and Melbourne.
Leading the international contingent is Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winning Anatomy of a Fall, a psychological thriller in which a woman is brought to trial after the mysterious death of her husband in the French Alps.
There is a similarly sinister tone to Monster from Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda, with the story centring on a mother who confronts a teacher after noticing disturbing changes in her son’s behavior.
A focus on Indonesia’s burgeoning film industry sees the Australian premiere of Adriyanto Dewo’s Galang, about a teenage boy who, after leaving and losing his sister in a riot that occurs at an underground music concert, tries to join the group to find reasons and answers for his guilt.
AFF CEO/creative director Mat Kesting said the early line-up illustrated how films “can illuminate our world and deepen our understanding of our own and other cultures”.
“The Adelaide Film Festival invites audiences back to cinemas to ‘See in the Dark’ and embrace the richness of cinema,” he said.
“I’m especially proud that we are presenting such a significant number of films by South Australian screen talent and directorial debuts, alongside the very best of world cinema.”
Find out more about the announcement here.