Warwick Thornton’s latest feature, The New Boy, has been selected for the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard program.
Set in the 1940s, the film is led by newcomer Aswan Reid as a nine-year-old Aboriginal orphan boy who arrives in the dead of night at a remote monastery, run by a renegade nun, played by Cate Blanchett.
Deborah Mailman and Wayne Blair also star, alongside a host of other new faces Shane Brady, Tyrique Brady, Laiken Woolmington, Kailem Miller, Kyle Miller, Tyzailin Roderick and Tyler Spencer.
Thornton is reported to have written the screenplay 20 years ago, prior to his 2009 Camera d’Or-winning debut feature, Samson and Delilah. In addition to writing and directing, he also serves as DOP.
Producers include Dirty Films’ Blanchett, Andrew Upton, and co-producer Georgie Pym, Kath Shelper for Scarlett Pictures and Lorenzo De Maio of De Maio Entertainment. Coco Francini is the executive producer for Dirty Films alongside Packer of Longbridge Nominees.
Heads of department include casting director Anousha Zarkesh, editor Nick Meyers, production designer Amy Baker, costume designer Heather Wallace and hair and make up design by Jen Rossiter.
The New Boy has received major production funding from Screen Australia’s First Nations department alongside Fremantle and Longbridge Nominees. Other backers include Screen NSW and the South Australian Film Corporation.
Screen Australia head of First Nations, Angela Bates said it was fantastic to see Thornton’s “genre-defying” film selected for one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world.
“This film with its powerful script and outstanding cast including newcomer Aswan Reid alongside Deborah Mailman, Cate Blanchett and Wayne Blair explores spirituality, culture and colonisation in a way we haven’t seen on screen before and I’ve no doubt will connect with audiences around the world,” she said.
The film is one of 17 films selected for Un Certain Regard this year, with others on the line up including opening night film, Thomas Cailley’s Le Régne Animal, which will open, Stéphanie di Guisto’s Rosalie, and Rodrigo Moreno’s Los Delincuentes (The Delinquents), as well as eight feature debuts.
In competition this year are 20 films, including Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest, Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Monster and Ken Loach’s The Old Oak.
Out of competition screenings will include Martin Scorcese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, starring Robert de Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, and series The Idol, from Euphoria‘s Sam Levinson.
Roadshow will handle distribution for The New Boy in ANZ. CAA Media Finance and UTA are handling sales for North America and The Veterans are managing rest of world.
Cannes Film Festival runs May 16 – 27.