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Kriv Stenders’ ‘The Correspondent’ to open Adelaide Film Festival

Richard Roxburgh in 'The Correspondent' (Image: AFF)

The world premiere of Kriv Stenders’ The Correspondent, starring Richard Roxburgh as former Al Jazeera journalist Peter Greste, will raise the curtain on this year’s Adelaide Film Festival (AFF).

Based on Greste’s 2017 memoir The First Casualty, the film follows the award-winning foreign correspondent as he accepts a last-minute assignment to cover a colleague’s post in Cairo during the Arab Spring, only to be arrested and accused of terrorism.

With only his wits keeping him alive, Greste’s survival means staring down a powerful regime to fight for freedom.

Julian Maroun and Rahel Romahn portray Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, respectively, the two colleagues arrested alongside Greste, with the cast also including Yael Stone, Nic Cassim, Mojean Aria, Fayssal Bazzi, Majid Shokor, Josh McConville, and Hazem Shammas.

Peter Duncan wrote the screenplay, while former Network 10 news and current affairs general manager Carmel Travers produced for Pop Entertainment. Shooting took place across six weeks in Sydney earlier this year. Stenders, Roxburgh, Greste, and producer Carmel Travers will attend Opening Night at Art Deco Piccadilly Cinemas as guests of AFF.

The Correspondent was one of six films announced for this year’s festival, which will run from October 23 to November 3.

Also having its world premiere is Shalom Almond’s feature debut Songs Inside, a documentary following First Nations singer and songwriter Nancy Bates as she leads a music program within the prison in preparation for a performance with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (ASO). Members of the ASO, Bates, and members of the prison group Songbirds will perform at the Premiere. Songs Inside is an Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund Film (AFFIF).

Daisy Ridley in ‘We Bury the Dead’ (Image: AFF)

Elsewhere, there will be a preview of Zak Hilditch’s WA-shot We Bury the Dead, featuring Daisy Ridley as a desperate woman who joins a ‘body retrieval unit’ in the hopes of finding her husband alive. Her journey takes a chilling turn, however, when the corpses she’s burying start showing signs of life. The cast also includes Marks Coles Smith and Brenton Thwaites.

From overseas, the festival will host the Australian premiere of Steve McQueen’s Apple Original Film Blitz, along with Marielle Heller’s horror dramedy Nightbitch, and Mumbai-based director Payal Kapadia’s romantic drama All We Imagine As Light.

AFF CEO and creative director Mat Kesting said there was no shortage of highlights in the early line-up.

“AFF is immensely proud to be presenting the world premiere of The Correspondent,” he said.

“This is an important film about one of the most urgent issues of our time – freedom of the press – from some of Australia’s finest screen creatives. We look forward to warmly welcoming them to AFF.

“We are also thrilled to be announcing a further five films in the 2024 program from the exciting new voices platformed at Cannes to new Australian feature films and documentaries, including the AFFIF film Songs Inside. The musical presentation at the Songs Inside screening promises to be a very special moment for all who attend.”

The full AFF program will be announced September 17. Find out more information about the announced films here.