By Travis Johnson
Themed “Vive Le Punk!” in honour of the 40th anniversary of the founding of the genre,* the 2017 ADL Film Fest kicks off on Thursday, October 5, at the Tonsley Innovation Precinct with a massive cross-media “Digital Carnivale”. Eschewing the old “opening night movie” schtick, the ADL FF will be offering game punters a smorgasbord of new media delights, giving them the opportunity to “…sample a hologram, play a game, experience new and exciting screen works and see things you’ll never forget.”
The event marks the start of 11 days of screenings and events featuring 142 films, including 23 world premieres and 40 Australian premieres showing at GU Film House Hindley Street, Mercury, Palace Eastend, and a pop-up festival hub in Port Adelaide.
10 feature films are screening in competition for the International Best Fiction Feature this year: Boris Khlebnikov’s Arrythmia (Russia, Finland, Germany), Mikhail Red’s Birdshot (Philippines, Qatar), Ofir Raul Graizer’s The Cakemaker (Germany, Israel), Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name (Italy, France), Rungano Nyoni’s I Am Not a Witch (France, UK), John Cameron Mitchell’s How to Talk to Girls at Parties (UK, USA), Mahommad Rasoulof’s A Man of Integrity (Iran), Pedro Pinho’s The Nothing Factory (Portugal), Ruben Östlund’s The Square (Denmark, Germany, Sweden, France), which handily picked up the Palm d’Or recently, and Joachim Trier’s Thelma (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, France).
They’ll be judged by a jury that includes acclaimed Afghani actress Leena Alam, multi-award winning producer Catherine Fitzgerald, Head of EYE International for the promotion of Dutch cinema Martin Rabarts, director João Pedro Rodrigues, and Australian producer Miranda Dear.
In competition for the The Flinders University International Best Documentary Award are Anne Tsoulis’ From Under the Rubble (Australia), Danny Ben-Moshe’s My Mother’s Lost Children (Australia), Ai Weiwei’s Human Flow (Germany, US), Lana Wilson’s The Departure (US), Lefteris Charitos’ Dolphin Man (Japan, Greene, Canada, France, Italy), Ziad Zalthoum’s Taste of Cement (Germany, Syria Qatar, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates), Tali Shamesh & Asaf Sudri’s Death in the Terminal (Israel), Angès Varda’s Faces Places (France), Gaylene Preston’s My Year With Helen (New Zealand), and Slavko Martinov’s Pecking Order (New Zealand).
Judges for the award include acclaimed documentarians Molly Reynolds, Hania Mroué, and Eva Orner.
This year also sees the inauguration of the AFTRS International Virtual Reality Award, which will be judged by AFTRS Head of Documentary Rachel Landers, Google Global Creative Team’s Creative Technologist Mathew Tizard, and ADL Film Fest’s Artistic Director and VR champion Amanda Duthie.
The ADL Film Festival Fund premieres two feature films this year: the world premiere of Yolande Ramke and Ben Howling’s Cargo and the Australian premiere of Warwick Thornton’s Sweet Country, plus the world premiere of Sophie Hyde’s mini-series F*!#ing Adelaide. Also on the slate are three documentaries, Larissa Behrendt’s After the Apology, Matthew Sleeth’s Guilty, and Richard Jasek’s Making a Mark, plus short films Remembering Agatha, Oddlands, and Brumley’s Suitcase.
This year’s closing night film is Sophie Fiennes’ documentary Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami, which is followed by a gala party.
And that’s barely scratching the surface of a vast and diverse festival this year. The ADL Film Fest runs from OCtober 5 – 15, 2017. For more info, shoot over to the official site.
*Arguable.
