by Sophie Terakes
On the opening night of International Film Festival Rotterdam [IFFR], the festival’s director Vanja Kaludjercic spoke about how this year’s programme of films serves as “a testament to cinema’s power to transcend borders,” showing exciting new work by filmmakers from Indonesia and Serbia to Israel and Hong Kong.
Renowned for its dedication to rich, experimental and culturally diverse arthouse cinema, IFFR proved the perfect platform to premiere Australian Jaydon Martin’s debut film, Flathead.
“It’s a massive honour to be able to be a part of the festival,” says Martin on the eve of Flathead’s debut. “The films that the festival has curated throughout the years have been fantastic and so wide, they’re… pushing cinema in a really beautiful direction and showcasing so much wonderful talent throughout the world.”
Martin truly joined their ranks on 2 February when his film won the Special Jury Award in the prestigious Tiger Competition.
Echoing Kaludjercic’s words, Flathead transcends borders both narratively and stylistically. The film, which seamlessly fuses documentary and drama, follows an elderly man named Cass Cumerford as he returns to his hometown of Bundaberg, Queensland. There, he mingles with the town’s diverse denizens and meditates on the love, loss, addiction and grief that has punctuated his life so far.
The film begins with a physical migration, documenting Cass’ languid drive from Sydney to Bundaberg over long stretches of country road. As the film progresses, its horizons widen, exploring stories of the migrant workforce that sustain Australia’s rural economies. Capturing what Martin terms the “blending of cultures” in Bundaberg, he records the daily routine of local fish and chip shop owner and Chinese emigre, Kent Wong. Martin’s camera gently hovers just over the shop counter, quietly detailing the vibrant array of customers that stream in and out.
In keeping with the global aesthetic that marks IFFR, Flathead also draws on a diverse range of international cinematic influences. Its tranquil, careful pacing recalls the work of American director Kelly Reichardt (who won IFFR’s Tiger Award for Old Joy in 2006). Yet, the film’s moments of self-referentiality (as when Cass films himself on his mobile phone) evoke the documentaries of French filmmaker Agnès Varda, and the cinema verité movement more generally.
Martin himself cites Ken Loach’s filmography as a key source of inspiration, particularly his penchant for documenting “underrepresented communities” in “real,” “emotionally vivid” ways.
Loach’s influence suffuses Flathead, but it is most clearly felt when, in a seemingly improvised scene shot on a handheld camera, Kent’s son Andrew encounters two Vietnamese labourers on a rural roadside. The trio share a brief but warm exchange, the tight camera angle uniting them as they swap personal histories. Certainly, the moment of unexpected connection brims with the very vivid emotion Martin finds in Loach’s films.
While Flathead explores the lives of just a few people in one small Australian town, Martin feels confident that the film will resonate across cultural and national divides because the desires it examines are ubiquitous. As the director explains, Flathead limns a “universal longing for connection and search for belonging that transcends the specificity of its characters or location.” Indeed, all viewers are sure to find something familiar in Cass’ magnificently open face, which so deftly shifts from grief-stricken and regretful to redemptive and peaceful.
Flathead is screening at the following: Geelong – The Pivotonian: 16th October (with Q&A); ACMI ‘New Voices in Australian Cinema’: 17th October (with Q&A); The Golden Age Cinema (Sydney): 17th, 20th & 23rd of October; Brisbane International Film Festival: 27th of October (with Q&A) & 1st of November; Toowoomba BCC Cinemas SFF’s Travelling Film Festival: 2nd November (with Q&A); Bundaberg Moncrieff Entertainment Centre: 3rd November (with Q&A)
