Starring:

Hannah Marie: "Billy" - The Final Chapter (2018), July and August (2019).

Nicole Gulasekharam: "Marta" - As The Bell Rings (2011), Small Time Gangster (2011), Barracuda (2016).

Lucas Pittaway: "Athol" - Snowtown (2011), Showboy (2014), The Faceless Man (2019).


Logline
After an argument that leaves Athol dead, his wife and sister are left to rebuild their relationship and confront the guilt that plagues them.

Synopsis
An oil painter named Billy, lives with her husband Athol and sister-in-law Marta in the Victorian countryside. After a fierce argument between the artistic couple leads to Athol’s untimely death Billy and Marta are left to rebuild their relationship and confront the guilt that plagues them.

Director Statement

After the 2019-2020 Australian Black Summer bushfires and a separate experience of loss, I decided to explore how grief affects the connection between two individuals. I also wanted to examine how personality, artistic practice and nature affect the healing process. Sisters-in-law Billy and Marta deal with the death of Athol in different ways; putting them in conflict fueled by their sense of guilt over his death.


Whilst writing the film I was in lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the sense of time slowing piqued my interest in slow cinema. This ended up being the subject of my thesis and the slow cinema techniques I identified in my thesis were applied to this film. Slow cinema places an emphasis on the smaller details in storytelling and explores these through long takes, mise-en-scene and ambiguity, rather than the use of detailed exposition.


With the generous assistance of the Harry Hains Memorial Film Bursary, I was able to set the film in a beautiful rural locale and this enabled me to use natural textures such as wind, rain and fire as elements that reflect and enhance Billy and Marta’s journey through separation and ultimate reconciliation.


Frequently Asked Questions

What are your cinematic influences?

Andrei Tarkovsky, Bela Tarr and Kelly Reichardt are my three biggest influences and inspirations. Each have such honest film making styles. Their shots are long and thoughtful, avoiding clichés and over-exposition in favor of mood and interesting character moments. I aim to be as truthful to my stories as they are, to create films that are thoughtful and to one day, inspire an audience the way Tarkovsky, Tarr and Reichardt have inspired me.

If you had to do it over again, what would you do differently?

Not have a global pandemic halfway through pre-production lol!

How much money did it cost?

I managed to make the film for about $2500 total! Mostly spent on the gorgeous locations and feeding my cast and crew. (They say an army marches on its stomach – the same can be said of film crews!)

Festivals

DOWNLOAD ATHOL PRESS KIT