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A Birthday Celebration
The new Australian drama, Birthday, is set to premiere at the Australian Film Festival
It's not often an Australia film returns to Australian shores on a wave of critical praise but this is what occurred with the new drama from director James Harkness, Birthday.
After being screened to sold-out audiences at the Anchorage International Film Festival (AIFF), Birthday's Australian premiere will be held Sunday, February 28 at the Randwick Ritz Cinema as part of the inaugural Australian Film Festival.
Based on the play of the same name by director James Harkness, Birthday is the story of M (Natalie Eleftheriadis), a sex worker reflecting on her uneventful 25th birthday. She goes to work like she does every day but learns that even the most unexpected birthday wishes can come true.
Shot on location in the surrounding suburbs of Adelaide in 2008, Birthday has already garnered high praise with several calling it the best film of the AIFF.
Birthday is Harkness' second film after 2006's Shot of Love, a film he thought would be his last. "I honestly thought I'd never make another film. That all changed when audiences saw Birthday as a stage play. I remember one performance where two sex workers in the audience were so moved they approached me after the show to tell me how profoundly Birthday reflected the truth of their everyday lives," Harkness recalls.
Harkness soon began planning the film version, and it was a natural progression with lead actress from the theatre production, Natalie Eleftheriadis, signing on for her role as M in the film, as well as producing the feature film version, which also stars Kestie Morassi (Wolf Creek, Satisfaction), Richard Wilson (Clubland, 48 Shades), Ra Chapman (Knowing), Travis McMahon (Last Man Standing, Cactus, Shot Of Love) and Aussie legend Chantal Contouri.
"I knew James was onto something when I first read the script of the play, but when we began researching and interviewing sex-workers for the film, the relevance of the story of Birthday become so much more evident. ‘It's not sex that clients want any more... it's love,' the women would say. How profound that the world is in such need of intimacy that the nature of sex-work has to adapt," Eleftheriadis comments.
Adding to the drama, Harkness had to overcome a mystery illness that came on during post-production, which had him hospitalised for several months, delaying the film's completion. "It was touch and go there for a while but there there's a happy ending because Birthday is the best film I could possibly make," the director says.
Birthday is set to be released nationally in June 2010 and Harkness sees the inaugural Australian Film Festival as the perfect opportunity to launch his film. "We consciously chose to premiere our film in Australia at AFF because the Festival is such a profound celebration of Australian cinema and everyone involved in Birthday could not be any more proud to be a part of such a wonderful, inspiring and prestigious program."
Audiences will also be given the chance to meet the Birthday cast and crew in a special Q&A featured after the film's premiere.
The Australian Film Festival runs from February 24- March 7. For more information and to check out the full line-up of films screening, visit the website.