Adelaide director to premiere at Sundance

Jennifer Kent’s Tasmanian Gothic thriller The Nightingale will have its North American debut at Sundance after screening here in October. It will be joined by I Am Mother, Hillary Swank’s futuristic sci-fi thriller that had a work in progress screening at the Adelaide Film Festival.

Adelaide director Sophie Hyde is no stranger to Sundance, having won the World Cinema Dramatic Directing Award for 52 Tuesdays in 2014. Since then, she’s directed the endearing ABC series F*!#ng Adelaide and her next film will premiere at the respected US festival.

Animals is an adaptation of Emma Jane Unsworth’s best-selling novel about female friendship that’s been described as “Withnail and I with girls”. The film features Holliday Grainger and Arrested Development’s Alia Shawkat in the lead roles.

Animals was financed with support from Adelaide Film Festival and SAFC, as was The Nightingale and Top End Wedding, a romantic comedy set in the Northern Territory, which stars Miranda Tapsell who also co-wrote and produced.

The other two Australian films appearing are Judy and Punch and Little Monsters. In a positive sign for Australia’s film industry, all six films have strong female representation and half are directed by women.

Previous SAFC productions to debut at Sundance have included Shine and Wolf Creek. The 2019 Sundance Film Festival will take place in Utah’s Park City from January 24 to February 3.