Tarerer Film Festival:
Samson & Delilah 6.30pm
Stone Bros. 9pm
The third annual Tarerer Film Festival has two of the most anticipated films of 2009 on one big night, Warwick Thornton's Samson & Delilah and Stone Bros. by Richard Frankland.
Curated by local film icon Walter Saunders, the inaugual Director of the Indigenous branch of the Australian Film Commission, the Tarerer Film Festival has been a highlight on the region's film calendar for the past two years.
Samson & Delilah (6.30pm) is the most acclaimed Australian film since Lantana. Two teenagers in the central desert are in love but have little support around them to nurture their spirit. They flee to Alice Springs, where life is hard and unsafe.
Told using intimate, fluid desert imagery and minimal dialogue, Samson & Delilah won Warwick Thorton a Camera D'Or at Cannes for Best First Feature.
"This is for me one of the most wonderful films this country has ever produced," said Margaret Pomeranz of ABC TV's At the Movies. "It is exquisitely made, it’s full of discipline. There’s not a spare moment in it. Five stars."
"Most importantly for Australian filmmaking, there is a complexity to our response; it's neither 'feel good' or a 'downer'," wrote Andrew L Urban of Urban Cinefiles.
Stone Bros. (9pm) is directed by Portland director Richard Frankland. As the first Indigenous comedy feature ever made, this stoner road movie features Eddie and his 'cuz' Charlie travelling through the outback with a deranged dog, a deadly spider and 187 joints.
Told using intimate, fluid desert imagery and minimal dialogue, Samson & Delilah won Warwick Thorton a Camera D'Or at Cannes for Best First Feature.
"This is for me one of the most wonderful films this country has ever produced," said Margaret Pomeranz of ABC TV's At the Movies. "It is exquisitely made, it’s full of discipline. There’s not a spare moment in it. Five stars."
"Most importantly for Australian filmmaking, there is a complexity to our response; it's neither 'feel good' or a 'downer'," wrote Andrew L Urban of Urban Cinefiles.
Stone Bros. (9pm) is directed by Portland director Richard Frankland. As the first Indigenous comedy feature ever made, this stoner road movie features Eddie and his 'cuz' Charlie travelling through the outback with a deranged dog, a deadly spider and 187 joints.
Essentially an old-fashioned slapstick played chiefly for regular belly laughs, Stone Bros. hurtles along from one crazed situation to another. Reminicent of the hilarious 2001 TV series Bush Mechanics, the film is underpinned by Frankland's storytelling ability while exploring deeper issues of place and identity. Frankland is a deep thinker and a smart filmmaker, and you sense that despite the apparent ease of the style there is something he is working away at in the minds of the audience.
"A lively, energetic and laugh-out-loud funny road movie with a uniquely black Australian flavour," said Louise Keller from Urban Cinefiles.
"A genuinely funny road movie that sees two fine actors dealing with personal and global issues in a fresh and emotionally engaging way," wrote Ruth Hessey of ABC Radio National's MovieTime.
The Tarerer Film Festival is run by the Tarerer-Gunditj Project Association and hosted by the Port Fairy Film Society. Tickets are $8 per film, available at the door. There will be drinks and nibbles and discussions between each film.
