Top End Wedding, Animals to premiere in Adelaide

Northern Territory romantic comedy Top End Wedding and Sophie Hyde’s millennial friendship story Animals will be screened in April, in the latest off-season event to be held by the biennial Film Festival.

Top End Wedding follows an Adelaide couple played by The Sapphires star Miranda Tapsell (who also co-wrote and produced the film) and Gwilym Lee, who recently appeared as Brian May in Bohemian Rhapsody, as they attempt to reconnect with a missing parent ahead of their remote wedding. Co-produced by Adelaide’s KOJO Entertainment, the film also includes Adelaide actors Matt Crook and Tracy Mann. The film will premiere on Saturday, April 6 with a second screening and Q&A session on Sunday, April 7.

Adapted from Emma Jane Unsworth’s 2014 novel and starring Arrested Development’s Alia Shawkat and emerging UK star Holliday Grainger (C.B. Strike), Animals follows two friends as they navigate their mid-twenties in Dublin. The film premiered at Sundance earlier in the year, where it received promising reviews and comparisons to Bridesmaids and Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag. Animals will premiere on Friday, April 5, before a Q&A screening on Saturday, April 6.

Both films were supported by the Adelaide Film Fest FUND, which has in the past bankrolled high profile productions like Hotel Mumbai, Girl Asleep and Snowtown. Another recently funded Adelaide production, the Hilary Swank-led sci fi drama I Am Mother, was recently picked up by Netflix following its own Sundance debut.

“Adelaide Film Festival is thrilled to present the Australian premieres of Sophie Hyde’s Animals and Wayne Blair’s Top End Wedding, giving audiences the chance to be among the first in the world to see these fine works,” newly appointed Film Festival head Mat Kesting says of the announcement. “Diverse in their nature, both films are immensely compelling and entertaining films we encourage Adelaide audiences to embrace at the ADL Film Fest April POP UP.”

Adelaide Film Festival POP UP
Animals
Premiere – Friday, April 5
Q&A screening – Saturday, April 6
GU Film House

Top End Wedding
Premiere – Saturday, April 6
Q&A screening – Sunday, April 7
GU Film House

adelaidefilmfestival.org