by FIlmInk Staff
Somewhere After will have its world premiere at Cinema Nova as part of Melbourne Documentary Film Festival on Saturday 18 July 2026.
In filmmaker Nicola Macindoe’s debut feature documentary, seven Australians share their hopes, dreams and fears and chose a landscape to reflect their experience of isolation in 2020. Three years later, they listen back with vulnerability and humour, confronting the universal question; can we use difficult times to become who we hope to be?
“I sat in my bedroom in the first weeks of lockdown, and suddenly realised 45 minutes had passed and I’d just been sitting there thinking. When would I normally do this? Never. And I realised there might be a film in this.” – Nicola Macindoe, Writer/Director, speaking on 3CR’s SHOWREEL program on 18 June.
This is not a film about COVID-19. It began as a time capsule of how it feels to be isolated, with the initial interviews taking place between May and September 2020. Three years later, when the filmmakers returned to the participants, the film became something more; an exploration of change. Described by test audience members as a “COVID Up” – a reference to Michael Apted’s landmark longitudinal documentary series — the film captures something audiences have not yet seen: the gap between who we hoped the pandemic would make us and who we actually became.
Somewhere After features an ensemble of seven Australians who have never met — a clinical psychologist, an Australian radio legend (Dave Gibson, known for his work on Australia’s Funniest Home Videos and The Doug Mulray Show), a First Nations wellbeing advocate (Dr. Georgia Durmush winner of the Transgrid Indigenous Achievement Award), a musician, a support worker, a banking software consultant and a student — yet share timeless questions around identity, purpose and change. Their stories span mental health, First Nations advocacy, new parenthood, and the universal challenge of attempting to change after a crisis.
The film is a unique blend of video calls, landscape recreations, hand-drawn animation, ghostly cityscapes and news archive, brought together and privately funded by emerging Australian filmmakers. Writer and director Nicola Macindoe, associate producer Caitlin Soennichsen and director of photography Jesse Phillips are all from Melbourne and met through their film studies at the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS).
“By creating a conversation between past and present selves, Macindoe captures something many of us rarely have the opportunity to witness: the distance between who we were, who we hoped to become, and who we are now. The result is both intimate and universal — a poignant reminder that growth is often uneven, unexpected, and deeply human… Somewhere After doesn’t offer easy answers; instead, it invites us to reflect on our own capacity for reinvention and the quiet courage required to keep moving forward.” – Susannah Duff, Festival Producer, Melbourne Documentary Film Festival.
“Issues of isolation, coping strategies, emotional impact…permeate this fine film.” – Peter Krausz, Film Critic, former Chair of the Australian Film Critics Association, FIPRESCI jury member. His recent interview with Nicola Macindoe on Friday 19 June is available on Peter’s YouTube Channel Movie Metropolis.
“We re-write how we feel about things,” said participant and musician Sid Norris, after watching his 2020 self play back through the teleprompter in 2023.
“Well I am in the Somewhere After, aren’t we all? We all grow and evolve… the difference is that there is usually no recording of a version of self every three years. If there was, would we be surprised, amazed, disappointed?” reflected participant and banking software consultant Ian Leong last week, ahead of the world premiere.
Tickets for Somewhere After are on sale here at Cinema Nova. A Q&A will be held with the filmmakers after the screening.
Melbourne Documentary Film Festival presents Somewhere After
Cinema Nova | Saturday 18 July 2026
Runtime: 79 minutes
Format: DCP, 5.1 surround sound, 1.85:1
Age Recommendation: Adult audiences
Content Advice: This film includes discussions of mental health.
