7.00pm film screens commences
Rated M
****1/2 David Stratton **** Margaret Pomeranz 7.9/10 IMDB
"The best and most terrifying film about Australia in existence" - Nick Cave
We are very pleased to announce the Australian classic and now Cannes' classic, "Wake in Fright" will be screened.
This year Wake in Fright was inaugurated into the Cannes' Film Festival Classics after originally being nominated for the 1971 Cannes 'Grand Prix du Festival International du Film' (now know as Palme d'Or/Golden Palm). The film disappeared and it was the then editor of the film who traced the negatives to a vault in America. He found them a couple of days before they were due to be destroyed. There's a story in itself ....
Brutal, uncompromising and stunning WAKE IN FRIGHT tells is the story of a young
teacher, John Grant, who arrives in a rough outback mining town planning to stay
overnight before catching the plane to Sydney. But, on this one hot night in
Bundanyabba, Grant decides to go into a smoky, crowded pub...
However, one night stretches to five, in which he discovers gambling, ruins himself
financially and plunges headlong toward his own destruction.
When the alcohol-induced mist lifts, the educated John Grant is no more. Instead there is a self-loathing man in a desolate wasteland, dirty, red-eyed, sitting against a
tree and looking at a rifle with one bullet left...
There is no Australian film quite like WAKE IN FRIGHT. Nominated for the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival in 1971 and still as raw and fresh today as it was then, rediscover this lost cinematic masterpiece as it screens for the first time in
nearly 40 years. (courtesy http://www.wakeinfright.com/ and refer this website for history and more information)
Wake in Fright was shot in Broken Hill and Sydney at Ajax Studios, Bondi. The film is produced by George Willoughby, Bill Harmon and Howard G. Barnes, directed by Ted Kotcheff and starring British actors Donald Pleasence, Gary Bond and Sylvia Kay, and Australian star Chips Rafferty (in his last feature film). Other cast members include a young Jack Thompson in his first feature film role, Al Thomas, Peter Whittle and John Meillon. More info on our blog site, including the history of finding the film.
LINKS
http://www.abc.net.au/atthemovies/txt/s2590361.htm
Wake in Fright interview with Director Ted Kotcheff http://www.abc.net.au/atthemovies/txt/s2598365.htm
Rated M
