Flickerfest 2019 - Swallows
Set in Australia’s frontier past, Swallows follows a traumatised Indigenous boy as he begins work on an isolated sheep farm and forms a connection with the farmer’s daughter.
Interview with Writer/Director Victoria Thompson
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Thank you so much! I made Swallows to help myself and audiences process the trauma of Australia’s colonial past, through a story of love and connection.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
Swallows is a poetic short film that is very visual and has minimal dialogue. You can just sit back and let the visuals and music sweep you up. In the vein of films such as Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights and Terrance Malick’s ‘The New World’ the film moves between beauty and horror, intimacy and destruction, in a poetic style. It also has a pretty adorable romance between Jobe Adams and Maddie Johnston.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Connection is a very important theme in the film, connection to the land and the people around us. It’s how we can overcome our suffering, loneliness and trauma as humans.
Many films about the bush focus on the alienation the bush brings out but I wanted to go behind that and understand why that is.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
I began developing the short as an exploration of loneliness and isolation in the Australian bush. But the more I researched the Australian bush the more I was unable to separate the horrors and history from those feelings of uneasiness it provokes. The romance was something I had always wanted to explore in the context of the Australian bush.
During the edit my editor Trent Mitchel and I really stripped back the film and cut most of the dialogue, letting the visuals and metaphors sing.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
We had some really lovely feedback so far. People seem to really respond to the visuals shot by Lucca Barone-Peters and the beautiful score composed by Emma Scolaro. But our newcomer lead Jobe Adams really steals the show. He’s magnificent! The whole cast is.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
It’s always a relief and a surprise when people respond so well to what you’ve put out into the world.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
We hope to inspire people to come along to our world premiere screening at Flickerfest! It’s going to be a great night. If you don’t live in Sydney, look out at your local festival as we begin our festival run or contact us to let us know in what cities you want the film played.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
Anyone who is interested in showing the film at festivals or online, we really want this film to be seen by audiences, especially in Australia.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
We would like audiences, especially Australian audiences, to be moved by the film and in turn help process the trauma of Australia’s colonial past. Film has the power to forge identity and process trauma - as a nation collectively, Australia needs to heal. One way to do that is through our art.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
More so we want the film to contribute to the already existing discourse surrounding our colonial past, and to help audiences feel that conversation on a more emotional level, through the power of film storytelling. For as long as the land is used by non-Indigenous people who benefit from the systems and concepts put in place by colonisation, we all have a responsibility to the First Nations people of Australia to acknowledge what is not ours and help actively dismantle oppressive systems.
Would you like to add anything else?
Always was and always will be Aboriginal land.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
The cinematographer Lucca Barone-Peters and I are just about to shoot a fashion film Cinderella, commissioned by SCCI and AFTRS, that is aiming to raise awareness about the lack of visibility of people with a disability in the world of fashion. The film follows a disabled female lead as she enlists the help of a fairy godmother to design an adaptive ballgown. It will premiere in April at the 2019 SCCI Fashion Hub.
Jobe Adams, our lead, graduated Screenwise at the end of 2018 and recently got an agent!
Linus Gibson, our producer, has just finished as associate producer on a feature film Sequin in a Blue Room, directed by the very talented Samuel Van Grinsven.
Interview: January 2019
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
Swallows
Set in Australia’s frontier past, Swallows follows a traumatised Indigenous boy as he begins work on an isolated sheep farm and forms a connection with the farmer’s daughter.
Length: 17mins
Director: Victoria Thompson
Writer: Victoria Thompson
Producer: Linus Gibson
About the writer, director and producer:
A recent graduate of the AFTRS BA (Screen), VICTORIA THOMPSON has directed two short films, Swallows and I Love You. Victoria was a finalist for the 2019 Sundance Ignite Fellowship.
LINUS GIBSON is a producer whose films have screened at festivals from coast to coast across Australia. He is a graduate of the AFTRS BA (Screen).
Key cast: Jobe Adams, Maddie Johnston, Dirk Nagel
Looking for: film festival directors, journalists
Facebook: Swallows short film
Instagram: @swallows_shortfilm
Funders: Glasstop Films
Made in association with: Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS)
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? At Flickerfest in Bondi! We’re screening in the ‘Best of Australian’ Program 5 on the 14th of January at 8:45pm with some other amazing Australian shorts!