Jailed war correspondent film to open Adelaide Film Festival

The Adelaide Film Festival has revealed the first six titles for this year’s program, including its opening night feature.

Adelaide Film Festival 2024. Richard Roxburgh stars in The Correspondent, directed by Kriv Stenders. Picture: Supplied by Adelaide Film Festival.

The world premiere of The Correspondent, starring Richard Roxburgh as jailed Australian war journalist Peter Greste, will open the Adelaide Film Festival in October.

Roxburgh, Greste, director Kriv Stenders and producer Carmel Travers will attend the opening night screening at Piccadilly Cinemas on October 23, followed by a party at Hindley Street Music Hall.

Montage of the first six films announced for Adelaide Film Festival 2024 program, including Richard Roxburgh in The Correspondent (third from right).

The Correspondent, which tells of Greste’s arrest and jailing in Egypt in 2013 while working for broadcaster Al Jazeera, is among the first six film’s announced for this year’s program.

AFF chief executive Mat Kesting said it was “immensely proud” to present The Correspondent.

“This is an important film about one of the most urgent issues of our time – freedom of the press – from some of Australia’s finest screen creatives,” Mr Kesting said.

Also making its world premiere will be director Shalom Almond’s documentary Songs Inside, which follows singer-songwriter Nancy Bates as she leads a music program inside a South Australian women’s prison.

Indian film All We Imagine as Light, which won the Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, US comedy horror Nightbitch starring Amy Adams, We Bury the Dead starring Daisy Ridley, and the Steve McQueen directed historical drama Blitz will also screen at the festival, which runs until November 3.

The full 2024 AFF program will be released on September 17.

REVIEW: JUSTINE CLARKE DELIVERS LANDSLIDE VICTORY AS JULIA GILLARD

Review: Julia

State Theatre Company of SA

Dunstan Playhouse, until August 31

Regardless of political persuasions, playwright Joanna Murray-Smith’s imagined look into the mind and motivation of Australia’s first female prime minister is a compelling, frequently very funny and deeply insightful examination of the nation’s attitudes towards women and power.

Justine Clarke stars in Julia, presented by State Theatre Company of SA. Picture: Prudence Upton

Justine Clarke’s performance as both Julia Gillard and narrator of the story in this almost solo show is an ovation-winning masterclass in acting, expertly paced in a non-stop 90 minutes by director Sarah Goodes.

Murray-Smith uses Gillard’s defining 2012 “misogyny” speech to parliament as both the launch pad and climax for a work which not only examines her subject’s life and career, but also contrasts personal and political values.

It does this cleverly by drawing parallels between Welsh mining disasters in her parent’s home town and the compromises or conflicts which are an inevitable part of running our nation, with an occasional nod to the Shakespearean machinations of Macbeth.

Actor Clarke switches effortlessly between a neutral, everywoman’s voice as she works the angular stage, through the Welsh accents of Gillard’s parents, to gradually introduce elements of the former PM’s distinctive nasal inflection.

Without so much as a word, Clarke also contorts her face into the supercilious smirk and squint of then Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, reducing the audience to howls of laughter on more than one occasion.

However, the greatest verbal barbs are reserved for Gillard’s predecessor, Kevin Rudd, painting an egomaniacal picture so vivid that it needs no physical impression.

Joining Clarke on stage, mostly in silence, is Jessica Bentley in a role which is part stagehand, part a reflection of Gillard’s inner self, and more broadly a mirror of the changing face, hopes and ambitions of Australian women.

En route there are hints of the Gillard to come in her childhood questions, her school debates, and a university wild side – accompanied by some equally expressive and exuberant 1980s dancing.

Renee Mulder’s set, Alexander Berlage’s lighting and Susie Henderson’s video screen backdrops combine to paint parliament as something more akin to a boxing ring.

By the time Clarke actually dons any sort of costuming, she has already transformed to capture every nuance and mannerism of Gillard’s persona and deliver the speech in its impactful entirety, hitting every beat in a mesmerising tour-de-force.

Patrick McDonald

MITCHELL BUTEL NAMED ARTISTIC DIRECTOR AT SYDNEY THEATRE COMPANY

State Theatre artistic director Mitchell Butel will leave the South Australian company in November to take up a three-year appointment as artistic director of Sydney Theatre Company.

Actor and director Mr Butel will replace Kip Williams, who announced his impending departure from the Sydney role in April.

After six years in Adelaide as artistic director, Mr Butel will deliver State Theatre’s 2025 program in late October before he returns to Sydney.

State Theatre Company's Mitchell Butel has been appointed as the new artistic director of Sydney Theatre Company. Picture: Matt Byrne

“Not only is Adelaide one of the best places in the world to live, it boasts one of the best theatre companies and communities in the world too,” Mr Butel said.

“To have helped lead and nurture that company and be part of its legacy has been such a deep joy and honour.”

A search will begin to find Mr Butel’s replacement for State Theatre.

The Sydney Theatre Company job is considered among the industry’s most prestigious positions, with past artistic directors including Richard Wherrett, Robyn Nevin, Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton.

Mr Butel helped steer State Theatre through the Covid pandemic with its digital project Decameron 2.0, to become the first major Australian company to return to live venues with its production of Gaslight in August 2020.

State Theatre chairman Joe Thorp said Mr Butel’s other achievements included strong growth in subscribers and audience numbers, with three of the highest selling shows in its 50-year history.

Mr Williams – whose STC productions of The Picture of Dorian Gray and the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde were also part of the 2022 and 2023 Adelaide Festivals – will leave at the end of this year to pursue his directing career on Broadway in New York.