Mad Rush, Gus Van Sant, Sandra Huller, Christopher Nolan and more
When is Maddelin McKenna’s feature film debut? Crazy Run While it’s set to premiere at MIFF next month, it’s doubtful another Melbourne film will appear on the programme, or one better suited to audiences of a certain age.
A short (75-minute), frenetic, micro-budget film shot in 11 days in the heart of the CBD, the film follows Madisha (Senuri Chandrani), a young woman dealing with the triple threat of job loss, imminent homelessness and a financial scam that prompts her to withdraw her meager savings and follow the instructions of the voice on the other end of her mobile phone to the letter or risk imprisonment.
It feels urgent and powerful. And McKenna insists it’s absolutely grounded in the reality of life for many young Australians; in no small part because the main plot actually happened.
“My cinematographer, Bonita Carzino, and I were living in a shared house in Fitzroy North, and one day our mutual friend burst through the front door with a bag full of cash,” he recalls. “He collapsed on our sofa and said he had spent the last few hours wandering around the CBD on the phone with people claiming to be from the ATO.”
McKenna became obsessed with the fact that his friend, who was “very smart and competent”, had been defrauded of almost all of his savings. He claims that when he started researching the issue, he found that, contrary to popular opinion, the victims of such scams were more often young people than the elderly.
And somehow this seemed to align with the friendship group’s general perception of how tough the world had become.
“I was having a lot of conversations about the cost of living crisis, financial instability, job insecurity, and the ebb and flow of living with that. And I think the feeling I wanted to convey in the film was the confusing, chaotic, off-putting nature of trying to exist in this stimulating world where all these external pressures come into play.”
“I felt like this might be the only time I was interested in examining my 20s,” adds the writer-director, who turns 30 next month. “The other movie ideas I’ve written are actually nothing like this one.”
Crazy RunMcKenna’s actor brother William (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) and mother Michelle, are among the names announced today as part of the First Look program of the 74th Melbourne International Film Festival, which recently suffered a cyber attack.
On May 31, MIFF sent an email informing its subscriber database that the personal information of more than 26,000 customers had been accessed by unauthorized parties. The festival claimed that no financial data was disclosed in the breach. On June 3, ACMI’s database was similarly hacked.
It was announced that First Glance also includes award-winning films from the Berlin and Cannes film festivals. RoseA 17th-century story of “gender transgression” by Sandra Huller (Anatomy of a Fall, Hail Mary Project) won Best Leading Performance in Berlin; Cannes Grand Prix winner minotaurDirector Andrey Zvyagintsev evaluates Putin’s war against Ukraine through the prism of Claude Chabrol’s 1969 film Unfaithful Wife; And I See Buildings Falling Like LightningThe story of five young friends in Birmingham, which won the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight audience award.
Gus Van Sant also has new movies (Dead Man’s Wirebased on the story of a real-life kidnapping that aired on live television) and mumblecore pioneer Joe Swanberg (The Sun Never SetsA love triangle drama starring Dakota Fanning. New Girl starring Lamorne Morris and Jake Johnson).
Announced Australian productions include documentaries about indie band Jebediah; Best SummerAn account of the 1995 Summersault music festival, recorded by Tamra Davis on tour with her husband, Mike D of the Beastie Boys, but forgotten for 30 years; Digby and Camillea sensitive documentary portrait of artist Digby Webster and trainee chef Camille Collins, both living with Down syndrome, as they attempt to forge their own paths in life and love; and its premiere Airport ChaplainA new series starring Hugo Weaving, Claudia Karvan and SBS. PittShabana Azeez.
Event screenings will also be held Hedwig and the Angry InchA similarly pristine print, fully restored in 4K for the 25th anniversary with the participation of writer-director-star John Cameron Mitchell. MemoryChristopher Nolan’s feature debut is presented with a live score as part of the program Hear My Eyes, which stars Guy Pearce as an investigator with amnesia who tracks down his wife’s killer.
The Melbourne International Film Festival will be held from 6-23 August. The full program will be announced on July 9. Details: miff.com.au
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