The First Episode of 2024

01/17/24 • 11 min

The Curb

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To help support The Curb on Patreon, please visit Patreon.com/TheCurbAu.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

Christmess Writer/Director Heath Davis Talks About Creating His Best Film Yet in This Interview

Aussie indie filmmaker powerhouse Heath Davis is back with his fourth feature film, Christmess. This seasonally appropriate flick follows on fom his grounded work with his solid debut film Broke, in 2016. Heath quickly followed this up with the black comedy Book Week, before swerving into thriller territory with Locusts.

Here we follow washed up alcoholic actor Chris Flint - the never better Steve Le Marquand - who's getting out of rehab just in time for Christmas. He arrives at the halfway house run by Nick - a phenomenal turn from Darren Gilshenan - only to meet a fellow recovering addict Joy - played by Middle Kids lead singer Hannah Joy. Together they aim to make the best Christmas they can have, while also getting Chris onto the path of some kind of normal.

Christmess sees Heath at his very best, showing a drive and fight for indie storytelling here in Australia that we would usually attribute to that of the American indie filmmakers. There's a sense of honest Australiana at work here as the heat of a summer Christmas adds to the drama of day to day life.

While Christmess skews towards drama more than it does comedy, it adheres to the Heath Davis mindset of seeing the best in people and setting about to write a film that allows the actors to bring that out in the most natural and genuine way possible. As a trio, Steve Le Marquand, Darren Gilshenan, and Hannah Joy are so completely watchable and engaging that you start to feel like you're home.

Christmess recently had its world debut at the Austin Film Festival, receiving wide acclaim from filmmakers and audiences alike. Now Heath has headed out on the road, like every hard working indie filmmaker has to, with the film being received by sell-out audiences. The following interview sees Heath touching on that communal experience of cinema, while also discussing his working relationship with Steve, Darren, and Hannah.

Christmess is a seasonal treat, and as it stands, it's one of the very best Australian Christmas films yet.

To find out more about where Christmess is screening near you, visit the Facebook page for more details.

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Next Episode

undefined - Bad Vibrations Writer/Director Nicole Delprado and Annabel Maclean Talking About Flickerfest and Creating Tension with a Theramine in This Interview

Bad Vibrations Writer/Director Nicole Delprado and Annabel Maclean Talking About Flickerfest and Creating Tension with a Theramine in This Interview

Australian horror is experiencing something of a renaissance at the moment with the box office boom of Talk to Me, and the critical success of Godless, Monolith, You'll Never Find Me, Birdeater, and so many more. As we leave 2023 in the dust and we head into 2024, we want to start the year by continuing this celebration of ocker horror with the new short film Bad Vibrations, which makes its world premiere at Flickerfest on Saturday January 20 in the Best of Australian Shorts bunch. Writer/Director Nicole Delprado brings this one-shot horror flick to life, where one housemate (Erica Long) gifts the other housemate (Annabel Maclean) a music book for her to play on her theramine. As she plays one of the songs, she unknowingly summons a demonic force in their house.

In the following interview, Nicole and Annabel talk about how they met each other and where the idea of using a theramin as a source of terror came from (shout out to Moog Synthesizers for their support to Bad Vibrations). They also explore how they plotted out the path of the one shot with cinematographer Stephanie Furdek, alongside the other creative challenges they faced with the format. It's clear through this interview that both Nicole and Annabel have an immense amount of support and enthusiasm for each others work which adds to their support for the film community around them. Across the deep dive discussion, we also talk about the place of Australian horror in the future, as well as how they both see themselves in the emerging landscape of Australian filmmaking creatives.

Bad Vibrations is an inventive and entertaining horror short that shows a group of emerging Australian creatives on the rise.

To buy tickets to see Bad Vibrations at Flickerfest, visit Flickerfest.com.au. To find out more about Nicole's work, visit NicoleDelprado.com.au.

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