FIVE NEW AFTRS FILMS JOIN THE AFTRS LINE UP AT ABC IVIEW

Five new AFTRS productions will join the AFTRS Showcase on ABC iView from Monday 29 December. The slate of films – Bőr, Call It Anything, Quiet Night Thought, Set Menu and The Cop From Wagga – were produced by the Master of Arts Screen classes of 2022/2023 and have enjoyed successful festival runs.  

From screenings and awards at Australia’s key festivals to appearances across the globe in France, China, Canada and the United States, these shorts bring to the screen stories personally inspired by the filmmakers, presented in a mix of fiction, documentary and hybrid formats that explore dark noir, satire and experimental storytelling. 

The shorts will be available for streaming as part of the AFTRS Showcase program on ABC iView, joining a popular collection of short films filled with big ideas. This showcase of short stories and documentaries from emerging and acclaimed AFTRS alumni includes works by Jane Campion, Ivan Sen, Phillip Noyce, Catriona McKenzie, Chris Noonan, Gillian Armstrong and Cate Shortland, bringing together classics and the next generation of screen talent. 

Bőr tells the story of Anna, an isolated Hungarian mother struggling to adapt to her new life in 1950s Australia as intense homesickness drives her further away from her young son and husband. The short has been awarded Best Short Film at the Byron Bay International Film Festival, following director Dylan Ferenc Nyerges receiving the Emerging Australian Filmmaker award at the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF), and cinematographer Tommy Thoms winning gold for student cinematography at the 2024 ASC NSW & ACT Awards. The film has previously screened at SXSW Sydney alongside Set Menu, and has also featured at the Revelation Perth International Film Festival, the St Kilda Film Festival, and the Festival Antipodes Saint-Tropez. 

The documentary-fiction Call It Anything tells the story of a son struggling to express his feelings to his mother. To convey what he cannot put into words, he enlists three musicians to translate his emotions into music, embarking on a personal journey that explores the complexity of emotions through the ecstasy of musical performance. Call It Anything premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival, screened at SXSW Sydney as part of the NSW House program and represented Australian films at Festival Antipodes Saint-Tropez and the London Australian Film Festival. 

Quiet Night Thought follows a couple paired together by a matchmaker, who ponder love, marriage and longing through letters exchanged from afar. The film is based on a personal love story set during the Great Leap Forward in 1950s China, drawn from actual letters written by the grandparents of producer Denis Curnow, who is of Chinese descent. Directed by Yuxin Cao from Fujian province, China, the film’s spoken language is Mandarin, and much of the dialogue is taken verbatim from the original letters, offering an intimate glimpse into the lives of Chinese people during one of the country’s most tumultuous periods. 

Quiet Night Thought has been awarded gold in the Short Film category at the 2023 ACS QLD & NT Awards. Its successful festival run includes screenings at Flickerfest, Shanghai International Short Week, Rhode Island Film Festival, St Kilda Film Festival, CinefestOZ, Chinese New Year Southport Chinatown Festival, Darwin International Film Festival, Canada China International Film Festival, Westpac OpenAir Cinema, the Aussie & Kiwi Film Fest in Prague and the Heart of Gold International Short Film Festival. 

Set Menu has been awarded fourth place in the CILECT Prize, which included films from over 180 educational institutions across more than 60 countries, a special award judged by CILECT Full Member Schools (International Association of Cinema, Audiovisual and Media Schools). Following its world premiere at SXSW Sydney, Set Menu has screened globally, including at Westpac OpenAir Cinema, Byron Bay International Film Festival, Adelaide Film Festival, Canberra Film Festival, CinefestOZ, St Kilda Film Festival, and internationally at Cinequest Film & VR Festival (USA), Newport Beach Film Festival, Flicker’s Rhode Island International Film Festival, Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival (USA) and Festival Antipodes Saint-Tropez (France). The film tells the story of Frances, who is denied the coveted set menu for dining alone at a famously exclusive restaurant and strikes an unexpected deal with a stranger to access both the menu and a night of peace and solitude. 

The documentary The Cop From Wagga has recently been awarded silver in the Documentaries category at the ACS QLD & NT Awards. It has previously screened at the Antenna Documentary Film Festival and the Heart of Gold International Short Film Festival. The film revisits 1973, when Terry O’Connell was a junior police officer and, during his rounds, was randomly assaulted by a teenage boy. Instead of throwing the full weight of the law at the offender, Terry set out to revolutionise the way crime and punishment were treated by society and law enforcement. 

The AFTRS Showcase offers something for everyone, making it the perfect viewing for summer and an inspiring start to the year ahead. Watch AFTRS films on ABC iView. 

CREDITS 

Bőr 

Writer/Director – Dylan Ferenc Nyerges
Producer – Emily Bull, Farabee Kabir
Cinematographer – Tommy Thoms
Composer – Madeleine Mallis
Editor – Elita Guo
Production Designer – Craig Bornstein
Costume Designer – Nicola Burns, Craig Bornstein
Sound Supervisor – Luke O’Loughlin
Key Cast – Nora Goldbach, Akos Armont, Kai Pakinga   

Call It Anything 

Director/Producer – Melvin Kwong  
Cinematographer – Jesse Philips 
Editor – Izzat Nadeem
Sound Designer – Samuel Turner  
Music – Nodira Islam 
Key Cast – Lily Innis, Tobias Dracoulis and Lukas Maio   

Quiet Night Thought 

Writer – Celeste Franklin 
Director – Yuxin Cao
Producer – Denis Curnow
Cinematographer – Kevin Nguyen 
Editor – Sophie Daulby 
Production Designer – Anthony Catanzariti 
Sound Supervisor – Luke O’Loughlin 
Music – Madeleine Mallis     

The Cop from Wagga 

Director/Producer – Lina Talib
Cinematographer – Kevin Nguyen
Editor – Amy Dunn
Music – Ray Lin
Sound Designer – Cate Cahill
Featuring – Terry O’Connell, Margaret O’Connell, Gary Ashwood and Kerrie Sellen   

Set Menu 

Writer – Roslyn Zhang
Writer/Director – Lindsay McDonald
Story By/Producer – Neisha Dallamora
Cinematographer – Sam Bader
Production and Costume Designer – Sheree Tam
Editor – Harrison Finch
Composer – Carla Dobbie
Sound Design – Luke O’Loughlin
Key Cast – Kathryn Hartman, Stephen Madsen, Emma Kew, Jonathan Lagudi and Bryn Chapman Parish