Plot
Josephine (nicknamed "Josie") Alibrandi, is an Italian-Australian teenager living in Glebe, an inner-west suburb in Sydney, with her mother, Christina Alibrandi. Josie attends a Catholic girls high school where she is disillusioned with the cliques and social politics of her snobby peers. Her usually sophisticated, outspoken demeanour is challenged when she is overcome with the pressures of her senior year of high school: the suicide of her friend, John Barton, and meeting her estranged father, Michael Andretti, who is in Sydney on a business trip. She confides in a young man with a bad reputation, Jacob Coote, and they slowly develop a romantic relationship. This relationship, mirrored by the tumultuous relationship with her father, forms the centre complications of the novel as Josie tries to navigate through the complexities and hurdles she faces as a young adult.
The Anzac Bridge is an eight-lane cable-stayed bridge that carries the Western Distributor (A4) across Johnstons Bay between Pyrmont and Glebe Island, on the western fringe of the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. The bridge forms part of the road network leading from the central business district, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and Cross City Tunnel to the Inner West and Northern Suburbs.
Sigrid Madeline Thornton is an Australian film and television actress. Her television work includes Prisoner (1979–80), All the Rivers Run (1983), SeaChange (1998–2019) and Wentworth (2016–2018). She also starred in the American Western series Paradise (1988–91). Her film appearances include Snapshot (1979), The Man from Snowy River (1982), Street Hero (1984) and Face to Face (2011). She won the AACTA Award for Best Guest or Supporting Actress in a Television Drama for the 2015 miniseries Peter Allen: Not the Boy Next Door.
Greta Scacchi, OMRI is an Italian-Australian actress. She is best known for her roles in the films White Mischief (1987), Presumed Innocent (1990), The Player (1992), Emma (1996), and Looking for Alibrandi (2000).
Looking for Alibrandi is a 2000 Australian coming-of-age film directed by Kate Woods and written by Melina Marchetta. The film is set in 1990s Sydney, New South Wales and features a cast of Australian actors, including Pia Miranda as Josephine Alibrandi, the film's main character; Anthony LaPaglia as her father, Michael Andretti, who left her and her mother before her birth; and Kick Gurry as Josie's love interest, Jacob Coote. The film won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Film in 2000.
Constance Lalage "Lally" Katz is an American and Australian dramatist writing for theater, film, and television. She now resides in Los Angeles.
Leah Maree Purcell is an Aboriginal Australian stage and film actress, playwright, film director, and novelist. She made her film debut in 1999, appearing in Paul Fenech's Somewhere in the Darkness, which led to roles in films, such as Lantana (2001), Somersault (2004), The Proposition (2005) and Jindabyne (2006).
Carmelina Marchetta is an Australian writer and teacher. Marchetta is best known as the author of teen novels, Looking for Alibrandi, Saving Francesca and On the Jellicoe Road. She has twice been awarded the CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers, in 1993 and 2004. For Jellicoe Road she won the 2009 Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association, recognizing the year's best book for young adults.
Belvoir is an Australian theatre company based at the Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney, Australia, originally known as Company B. Since 2016 and as of 2022 its artistic director is Eamon Flack.
Pia Miranda is an Australian actress. Her career was launched with her role in the 2000 feature film Looking for Alibrandi, an Australian film based on the novel of the same name by Melina Marchetta. She is also known for her roles as Karen Oldman in Neighbours (1998–1999), Jodie Spiteri in Wentworth (2015), and Jen in Mustangs FC (2017–2020).
On the Jellicoe Road is a young adult novel by Australian novelist Melina Marchetta. It was first published in Australia in 2006 by Penguin Australia under the title On the Jellicoe Road, where it was awarded the 2008 West Australia Young Readers Book (WAYRB) Award for Older Readers. It was later published in the United States in 2008 under the abbreviated title Jellicoe Road by HarperTeen and went on to win the 2009 Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association.
Rebecca Jane Tregurtha Massey is an Australian film, television, and theatre actress. She is best known for her comic roles as Beverley in Utopia, and as Lucy Canon in Chandon Pictures. She has worked in leading roles with major theatre companies nationwide such as The Sydney Theatre Company, Belvoir St Theatre, Bell Shakespeare Company, State Theatre Company of South Australia, and Griffin Theatre Company. She has performed alongside many of Australia's great actors and actresses including Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, and Barry Otto.
Finnikin of the Rock is a 2009 young adult fantasy novel by Melina Marchetta. It follows the story of Finnikin of the Rock and his guardian who have been away from home for ten years, since the royal family was killed. But when he is told that the heir to the throne is still alive they must follow a young woman, Evanjalin, in order to reach the prince.
Jasper Jones, is a 2009 novel by Australian writer Craig Silvey. It has won and been shortlisted for several major awards including being shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award. The novel was selected by the American Library Association as 'Best Fiction for Young Adults' in their 2012 list.
Paul Charlier is an Australian composer and sound designer who works primarily in theatre and film. He has also worked in radio and was a founding member of the Sydney post-punk band SoliPsiK. His theatre work includes the Sydney Theatre Company productions of A Streetcar Named Desire and Uncle Vanya, as well as the Company B productions of Faith Healer (Composer) and The Diary of a Madman. His film credits include The Final Quarter (Composer), Looking for Alibrandi, Candy, Paul Kelly - Stories of Me and Last Ride (Composer).
Looking for Alibrandi may refer to:
Robyn Kershaw is an Australian independent film and television producer, best known for her work on feature drama, Looking for Alibrandi (2000), musical-comedy, Bran Nue Dae (2009), the hit TV series Kath & Kim and working with the YouTube sensation Mychonny on Sucker (2015), Mychonny Moves In (2015) and The China Boy Show (2017).
Ningali Josie Lawford, also known as Ningali Lawford-Wolf and Josie Ningali Lawford, was an Aboriginal Australian actress known for her roles in the films Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002), Bran Nue Dae (2009), and Last Cab to Darwin (2015), for which she was nominated for the AACTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
Alibrandi is a surname of Italian origin. Notable people with the surname include:
The PACT Centre for Emerging Artists, formerly Producers Authors Composers and Talent and PACT Youth Theatre, is an Australian performing arts organisation and theatre company located in Sydney, New South Wales, catering for new and emerging artists. Its theatre is known as the PACT Theatre.
Vidya Rajan is a Melbourne-based comedian, screenwriter, and playwright. She is best known for writing the 2022 play adaptation of Melina Marchetta's 1992 novel Looking for Alibrandi. Rajan also wrote for and contributed to the ABC comedy series Why Are You Like This, SBS's The Feed and ABC's At Home Alone Together. In 2023, Rajan was in the main cast of Aunty Donna's Coffee Cafe.
