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Odessa Young short film ‘Highway’ to screen at the BFI London Film Festival

Australian short film Highway, written and directed by Vanessa Gazy, produced by Tim Russell and Michael Wark and starring the swiftly-rising Odessa Young, will premiere at the BFI London Film Festival next month.

Highway is Gazy’s second major short following her AFTRS film Foal, which was nominated for ADG and AWG awards in 2015 and is currently screening onboard certain Virgin flights.

Leading lady Young was singled out by critics for her performances in Simon Stone's The Daughter and Sue Brooks' Looking for Grace. In Highway, she plays troubled teen Hester Black, who is hitchhiking on an eerie mountain pass when her radio begins to receive phantom news signals from the future bearing very bad news.

“We are truly thrilled to have been selected for the BFI London Film Festival," said Gazy. "It is a great honour to be given the opportunity to showcase our little piece of Australian cinema on such an exciting international stage."

Shot in the Snowy Mountains, the short was largely financed through a grant awarded from Screen ACT and is the second collaboration between Highway producers Tim Russell and Michael Wark. Their Metro Screen-funded short film The Driver screened at Flickerfest earlier this year, and Russell was one of the directors shortlisted for the Sydney Film Festival's Lexus Short Film Fellowship in June.

Highway will screen at the London Film Festival on October 12 at the Prince Charles Theatre in Leicester Square as part of the Cult shorts strand 'Tales of Mystery and Imagination'.