First Look Image For Down Under

 It’s been a decade since the Cronulla riots saw our country hit the global headlines for all the wrong reasons, and that shameful event is being revisited in Abe Forsythe’s Down Under.

The black comedy follows two sets of hotheads from both sides of the fight, as this first look image illustrates, who are divided by an arbitrary hatred.

Deliberately and provocatively confronting racism head on, Forsythe saw comedy as the key to revisiting this incident. “There is nothing more satisfying than getting people to laugh at something they feel like they shouldn’t be laughing at. Comedy is the best way to say something meaningful,” he says.

“Obviously if you’re setting a film during the Cronulla riot, racism is one of the major themes you find yourself exploring,” the writer/director says. “However, racism here is a behavioural by-product of these characters wanting to belong to something, to feel like they are in control.”

The film represents Forsythe’s long awaited follow-up to his 2008 directorial feature debut, Ned, a  hilarious parody of the bushranger legend. Since then, Forsythe has directed and starred in the ABC comedy series Laid, and also lensed episodes of The Elegant Gentleman’s Guide to Knife Fighting and Mr & Mrs Murder.

The film stars a host of veteran talent including Damon Herriman and David Field, along with Lincoln Younes, Rahel Romahn, Michael Denkha, Fayssal Bazzi, Alexander England, Justin Rosniak, Harriet Dyer and Christiaan Van Vuuren from Bondi Hipsters.

Down Under will be released in cinemas in 2016.