A recently released film, The Rooster, will show in Castlemaine this Sunday, August 13, as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF).
The film was shot locally by Mark Winter and his actor partner Geraldine Hakewell, who live near Glenlyon. It features Hugo Weaving and Phoenix Raei and includes Daylesford College student Quinn Le Fevre in a minor role.
When the body of his oldest friend is found buried in a shallow grave, Dan (Phoenix Raei), a small-town cop, seeks answers from a volatile hermit (Hugo Weaving) who may have been the last person to see his friend alive.
Dan works in a remote police outpost in regional Victoria, but when a childhood friend is found buried in a shallow grave following an incident at the local high school, his judgement and credentials are thrown into question. Consumed with guilt and suspended from the force, Dan decides to camp out in the forest, where he encounters a cranky jazz-listening, shotgun-toting, ping-pong-obsessed misanthropic hermit. The bond they form becomes transformative for the broken men. But, surrounded by trees, far away from any trace of civilisation, is everything really as it seems?
Supported by the MIFF Premiere Fund, the feature debut from actor turned writer/director Mark Leonard Winter (The Dressmaker; Little Tornadoes) is a delicate, at times droll, dramatisation of masculinity, mental health and the solace found in companionship. Winter’s storytelling talents are on display in a film that is unafraid to make bold choices: the enigmatic commingles with the everyday, painterly compositions depict both rural isolation and the natural sublime, and the eerie sound design maintains an air of intriguing unease. With Weaving and Raei welded by a tremendous chemistry, The Rooster unfurls as a distinctive, unforgettable tale of two individuals confronting life’s challenges and discovering what hides behind the bravado.
Date: Sunday, August 13
Time: 1:00 pm
Venue: Theatre Royal, Castlemaine
Bookings: oztix
