Flathead | |
---|---|
Directed by | Jaydon Martin |
Written by |
|
Produced by |
|
Starring |
|
Cinematography | Brodie Poole |
Edited by | Patrick McCabe |
Music by |
|
Production companies |
|
Release date |
|
Running time | 89 minutes |
Country | Australia |
Language | English |
Flathead is a 2024 docu-fiction film directed by Jaydon Martin about working-class Australian life. The film premiered at the 53rd International Film Festival Rotterdam, where it won a Special Jury Award in the Tiger Competition.
Flathead tells the story of an elderly man returning home to Bundaberg and dealing with grief, among a group of working-class people. [1] [2]
Flathead is directed by Jaydon Martin, an Australian-born artist and filmmaker. In the UK, he developed behind the scenes documentaries for the BBC Wales, National Theatre of Wales, and Artes Mundi. [1]
Amiel Courtin-Wilson and Chloe Brugale were executive producers. [3]
The film was shot in the town of Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia. [4] [5]
The film premiered at the 53rd International Film Festival Rotterdam in February 2024. [6]
It also screened at the Sydney Film Festival in June 2024. [1]
Peter Bradshaw, reviewing for The Guardian , rated the film with 4 stars out of 5 and wrote "Jaydon Martin makes an outstanding feature debut with this absorbing, moving and visually beautiful docufiction... The film’s poetry resides in its thoughtful inactivity, its vernacular spirituality and its gentleness." [7]
Wendy Ide, writing for ScreenDaily , said "The film is an unvarnished, but striking account of life in this working class community." [8]
Martin Kudlac of Screen Anarchy wrote "Flathead exhibits a level of formal polish uncharacteristic of a straightforward documentary, yet its decentralized and loosely structured approach sets it apart from conventional fiction cinema." [9]
Shane Danielsen, writing in The Monthly , described the film as "Elegant, patient and humane". Carmen Gray wrote in the Sight and Sound 's Weekly Film Bulletin about the film: "The docufiction, with its distinctive vision of spiritual questing in a poor part of Queensland, maximised absurdist detail and laidback sardonic wit while still conferring dignity on its subjects". [10]
Flathead won the Tiger Competition Special Jury Award at the 53rd International Film Festival Rotterdam, [6] with Variety reporting the jury's comments on the film: "calm but touching execution ... a naturalistic and realistic film at its best". [11]
Bundaberg is a city in the Bundaberg Region, Wide Bay, Queensland, Australia, and is the tenth largest city in the state. It is a major centre of the Wide Bay–Burnett geographical region. The Bundaberg central business district is situated along the southern bank of the Burnett River, about 20 km (12 mi) from its mouth at Burnett Heads, and flows into the Coral Sea. The city is sited on a rich coastal plain, supporting one of the nation's most productive agricultural regions. The area of Bundaberg is the home of the Taribelang-Bunda, Goreng Goreng, Gurang, and Bailai peoples. Popular nicknames for Bundaberg include "Bundy", "Rum City", and "The 'Berg". The demonym of Bundaberg is Bundabergian. In the 2021 census, Bundaberg's urban area has a population of 73,747 people.
CPH:DOX, also known as Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, is a Danish film festival focused on documentary films, held annually in Copenhagen, Denmark. Since 2008 has been run by Copenhagen Film Festivals, which also managed the now-defunct CPH PIX festival.
Flower In The Pocket is a 2007 Malaysian independent film written and directed by Liew Seng Tat. The film was produced by Da Huang Pictures.
Jim Finn is the writer/director of what have been called "Utopian comedies." His Communist trilogy of short features is the permanent collection of the MoMA. The first Interkosmos is about an East German space colonization mission. The second feature La Trinchera Luminosa del Presidente Gonzalo is about a day in the life of a Shining Path women's prison cellblock. The third film in the trilogy The Juche Idea is about an artist residency in North Korea. He has been making short films and videos since 1999. His work is available through VDB, Ovid TV, and DA Films.
Mark Cousins is an English-born, Northern Irish director and writer. A prolific documentarian, among his best-known works is the 15-hour 2011 documentary The Story of Film: An Odyssey.
Amit Dutta is an Indian experimental filmmaker and writer. He is considered to be one of the most significant contemporary practitioners of experimental cinema, known for his distinctive style of filmmaking rooted in field-research and personal symbolism resulting in images that are visually rich and acoustically stimulating. His works mostly deal with subjects of art history, ethno-anthropology, and cultural inheritance through cinema.
Sanal Kumar Sasidharan is an Indian poet, lawyer, and filmmaker.
Sexy Durga is a 2017 Indian Malayalam-language indie horror film directed by Sanal Kumar Sasidharan. The film is about the religious divide in the society of Kerala and its effect on marriage between two people from two different religious backgrounds.
Altes Geld is an Austrian TV dark comedy series created by David Schalko, revolving around the dysfunctions of a wealthy Viennese family.
Norika Sefa is a Kosovan film director, writer and editor, living in Prague, Czech Republic. Her feature film debut, Looking for Venera (2021), won a special jury award at the 50th International Film Festival Rotterdam.
Archipelago is a Canadian animated documentary film, directed by Félix Dufour-Laperrière and released in 2021. A poetic essay film that blends diverse styles of animation, the film is a psychogeographic meditation on the islands in the St. Lawrence River, forming a metaphor for Quebec's status as an "uncertain country" defined by the tensions between its status as a province of Canada and the Québécois people's conception of themselves as a distinct nation.
Geographies of Solitude is a Canadian documentary film by Jacquelyn Mills that was released in 2022. The film is guided by Zoe Lucas, a naturalist and environmentalist who lives on Nova Scotia's Sable Island, where she catalogues the island's wild Sable Island horses, and endeavours to preserve its unique ecosystem.
Before I Change My Mind is a 2022 Canadian coming-of-age comedy-drama film co-written and directed by Trevor Anderson in his feature directorial debut. Set in 1987, the film stars Vaughan Murrae as Robin, a non-binary teenager who moves with their family to a small town in Alberta, where they navigate the challenges of fitting into a new environment by befriending Carter, the school bully. The film also stars Lacey Oake, Matthew Rankin, and Shannon Blanchet.
Limbo is a 2023 Australian independent mystery-crime film directed by Ivan Sen and starring Simon Baker, Rob Collins, Natasha Wanganeen and Nicholas Hope. The film had its world premiere in competition at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival, on 23 February 2023, where it competed for Golden Bear.
Cook F**K Kill is a 2019 Czech-Slovak comedy-drama film directed by Mira Fornay, starring Jaroslav Plesl, Petra Fornayová, Regina Rázlová, Bohuslav Zárychta, Jan Alexander, Jazmína Cigánková, Irena Bendová and Roman Lipka.
The 53rd International Film Festival Rotterdam, is the 2024 edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, which began on 25 January 2024. The festival opened with Head South a New Zealand film by Jonathan Ogilvie. The complete line-up of films competing in the festival was revealed on 18 December 2023. The festival closed on 4 February 2024 with La Luna by M. Raihan Halim.
Swimming Home is a 2024 black comedy–drama film directed by Justin Anderson in his directorial debut. Based on the 2011 novel of the same name by Deborah Levy, the film stars Christopher Abbott, Mackenzie Davis and Ariane Labed. The film revolves around Joe and Isabel, whose marriage is dying when Kitti, a naked stranger is found floating in the pool at their holiday villa. It is described as "a surreal and darkly comic journey into the unresolved traumas that lurk in the shadows of all our lives." The film is a co-production between companies based in the United Kingdom and France.
No Dogs or Italians Allowed is a 2022 animated film written and directed by Alain Ughetto.
Yohanna is a 2024 international co-produced drama film written, directed, and produced by Razka Robby Ertanto. It stars Laura Basuki as the titular role.
For Night Will Come is a 2023 French-Belgian fantasy-horror drama film co-written and directed by Céline Rouzet. It premiered at the 80th edition of the Venice Film Festival.