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Friends and Strangers

Directed by James Vaughan, 2020 Australia 84 minutes
MA15+
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A hit at Rotterdam and New York festivals – a witty, absurdist slacker comedy about 20-somethings in Sydney that cements James Vaughan as a prominent voice in the Australian New Wave revival.

Ray (Fergus Wilson), a meandering directionless videographer and Alice (Emma Diaz), a similarly apathetic 20-something embark on a misguided and humiliating camping trip. Once back in Sydney, Ray drifts between odd jobs, unmotivated by his suffocatingly breezy, no-stakes existence. A comment on privilege and colonial malaise – accentuated by Dimitri Zaunders’s lush cinematography, bursting with gorgeous pastel tones reminiscent of Australia’s Impressionist era – Vaughan’s confident feature debut excels in mining humour from the awkward non-starts that define contemporary existence. Evocative of the films of Éric Rohmer, Hong Sangsoo and Luis Buñuel – but with a decidedly Australian twist.

Program Strand
Features,
Classification
MA15+ - Strong coarse language
Language
In English
Director
James Vaughan,
Producer
Lucy Rennick, Rebecca Lamond,
Cast
Fergus Wilson, Emma Diaz, Steve Maxwell,
Cinematographer
Dimitri Zaunders,
Genre
Comedy, Cinephile, Australian Films,
Company Credits
Australian Distributor: Bonsai Films,

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