It didn’t take long for Australian director Jennifer Kent’s 2014 debut feature film, The Babadook, to be considered a modern horror classic. Among other distinctions the film placed number six in our poll of the greatest Australian films of the 21st century, which we announced this week.
After The Babadook, Hollywood came a-knockin’ on Kent’s door, reportedly offering the Brisbane-born filmmaker a range of lucrative projects. Instead she decided to make another Australian film (bless you Ms. Kent), this one a period piece based in Tasmania.
That is the highly anticipated The Nightingale, which we heard exciting news about this week. It will premiere at the Venice Film Festival, which kicks off next month and is widely regarded as a stepping stone towards the Oscars.
Not only that, the film will also play in competition. The jury will be led by Guillermo del Toro, whose film The Shape of Water won the major award last year.
Sadly, this year Jennifer Kent is the only female director, out of 21 filmmakers, to helm a film picked for the competition. It is unusual that one of the world’s most prestigious festivals could not provide a more diverse selection.
Kent has described The Nightingale as a mediation on the impact of violence on women, Aboriginal people and the land. To say we are pumped to see this film (which has a yet-to-be-confirmed release date) is an understatement.
Here’s the official synopsis:
“Set in 1825, Clare, a young Irish convict woman (Aisling Franciosi), chases a British officer (Sam Claflin) through the rugged Tasmanian wilderness, bent on revenge for a terrible act of violence he committed against her family. On the way, she enlists the services of an Aboriginal tracker named Billy (Baykali Ganambarr), who is also marked by trauma from his own violence-filled past.”
