by Dov Kornits
“It’s so much fun, have you ever been?” asks actor Emma Booth on the line from LA. That’s pretty much the same thing that we have heard from everyone who has ever been to CinefestOZ since it was founded in 2008.
Of course, us Eastsiders won’t be able to attend the 13th incarnation of the Margaret River destination festival, and neither will Emma Booth, despite being named patron of the festival alongside David Wenham, Kelton Pell, Myles Pollard and The Hon. Barry House.
“I’ve been living in LA for seven years,” the Hounds of Love, Glitch and Underbelly star tells us. “COVID happened and then it was like, ‘okay, we’re going to be in the house for a good chunk of time’. And now it just keeps extending. It’s been a very time, but at the same time, it’s been a fantastic year for buckling down and getting super-creative. My husband’s [Dominick Joseph Lunar] a writer, and we’ve actually been really productive. We have been working on fantastic projects, and are going to get a whole bunch of stuff up and running.”
According to Booth, these projects will be Australia-bound, once she’s allowed to leave LA. “It’s like, why not?” she asks rhetorically. “Why not just make your own projects and create our own art? That’s the great thing, he’s a fantastic writer, I’m just like, ‘Who do I want to play?’”
Which prompts us to ask the model turned actress why we haven’t seen her in any blockbuster-type film or TV, despite making her first mark back in 2007 with Clubland, which premiered at Sundance, and consistently impressing in everything since.
“I’ve turned down a lot of stuff, and it’s one of the most interesting things to me. Like, where do I see my career going? What kind of stuff do I want to be doing? Honestly, I love my career. It’s funny being in Hollywood. I love to make great art. That’s what I’m about. I like to tell fantastic stories. I’ve been really fortunate in my career to just tell fantastic stories. I don’t need to be doing Hollywood blockbusters, one after the other. Not saying I’m against them and I will definitely do them one day. Give me a great story. I don’t do this for the fame. I do it for the storytelling aspect and the art of it. So, different people and artists want different things than me. I’m pretty chilled and happy. But I tell you what, I’m definitely looking forward to getting back to work when this strange time’s over.”
Emma Booth is also keen to return to CinefestOZ, which takes place in Busselton and the Margaret River region, close to where the actress was born and grew up.
“I was born in Denmark,” she says of the coastal town near Albany, south of Busselton. “I was raised in Fremantle. My sister moved down there [Busselton] about 15 years ago, and my mum moved down about 10 years ago. I’ve been down there whenever I’m home. It feels like home. My home away from home.
“It is a lot of fun,” we get back to the topic of experiencing CinefestOZ for ourselves in the future. “They fly people from all over Australia and internationally as well sometimes. Everyone stays in these ridiculous five-star beautiful apartments and they’re all on the water. There’s all these different wineries and places where they host beautiful lunches, and there’s buses to take everyone around. There are parties every night and just film, film, film. It’s like family, quite intimate in that way. It’s just different to the usual film event. So, if you can get there one year, you should definitely do it. I highly recommend it.”
