In My Father's Den

Film Festival curtain goes up on one of the very best

June 11, 2004
The Australian

TONIGHT'S 51st Sydney Film Festival opens with a corker of a curtain-raiser from the other side of the Tasman. Not only is In My Father's Den one of the best films to hail from this part of the world, but also it's one of the best films I have ever seen. Completed just days ago in Auckland, the film will have its world premiere at the State Theatre.

This first feature from New Zealand writer/director Brad McGann echoes elements of both Mike Leigh's 1996 film Secrets and Lies and Ray Lawrence's Lantana in 2001, but is ultimately more intimate and affecting than either of them. Scottish actor Matthew MacFadyen (Enigma, Spooks) stars as a hotshot photojournalist who returns to his native town in the South Island following the death of his father.

There he develops a friendship with a teenage girl, Celia, who is the daughter of his former lover. Though loosely based on the whodunnit novel of the same name by Maurice Gee, In My Father's Den also stems from a dream McGann had several years ago. "It sounds a bit stupid, but in the dream there were two characters. One of them was a teenage girl, the other was an older guy talking about this place where the ocean had gone out and never comes back," McGann said.

The $NZ7 million ($6.3 million) film, which opens nationally on October 21, also stars Miranda Otto. But McGann says he is proud he stuck to his guns and resisted pressure from one of the project's backers to cast an American girl in the role of Celia, opting instead for Kiwi newcomer Emily Barclay. The modest McGann confessed to being apprehensive about tonight's screening. But having previously seen himself primarily as a writer rather than a director, he is ready to step behind the camera again.

Other highlights of the 16-day festival include the Australian premiere of the locally produced drama, Somersault – a recent hit at Cannes, and set in the NSW ski fields – and Tuesday's screening of a restored print of the 1919 Australian silent classic, The Sentimental Bloke.

The film festival spotlight moves to Melbourne and Brisbane next month. Details of the Melbourne International Film Festival, which begins on July 21, will be announced on Wednesday, while Brisbane kicks off on July 27.