"I felt there was a story in there I wanted to locate, about what it is to feel a bit different, and to feel that who you are isn't really valued."
Greater scrutiny of feature film projects and more emphasis on stories that can travel are among the focuses for two of the country's leading production companies in the year ahead amid ongoing challenges in the theatrical landscape.
A trio of Australian films are bound for this year's Toronto International Film Festival: NZ co-production 'The Convert', directed by Lee Tamahori, Kitty Green's 'The Royal Hotel' and Warwick Thornton's 'The New Boy'.
Ivan Sen's 'Limbo' and Noora Niasari's 'Shayda' have joined the Australian contingent bound for this year's Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), announced as part of the event's centrepiece program.
Critics have hailed Kitty Green's 'The Royal Hotel' as an "even deeper" and "pulpier and more explosive" look at toxic masculinity than her 2019 #MeToo thriller 'The Assistant', with many drawing comparisons between the film and Ted Kotcheff's 1971 classic 'Wake in Fright'.