Brisbane-made Love Opera showing at part of Cannes Film Festival

It was a hit at the Brisbane International Film Festival and now a film that goes behind the scenes of a city opera program is charming crowds in a sidebar event of the Cannes Film Festival.

Lisa Gasteen in the film Love Opera

Wouldn’t you love to know what goes on behind the scenes at the opera?

In the film Love Opera, shot in Brisbane, you do.

Love Opera, which has played at film festivals in Australia and at the St Tropez Antipodean Film Festival, won Best Documentary at the Australian Screen Industry Network Awards and has now made the cut and is currently on the bill as part of the Cannes Film Festival.

It is being shown at Cannes Cinephiles, a sidebar event that features a program of Aussie films called Cannes Antipodes.

One screening has already taken place and there will be another at around 3.30am Tuesday AEST.

Love opera producer Trish Lake

The film’s producers, Trish Lake and Daniel Schultz from Brisbane-based production company Freshwater Pictures, are thrilled that a Queensland and Brisbane made film about a revered institution, the Lisa Gasteen National Opera Program is being seen at such a prestigious international event.

Trish Lake says it is a case of “Queensland stories captivating global audiences”.

“Which is fitting because the film is about a world-class opera program run by an internationally renowned opera singer right here in Brisbane,” she says.

“The film is a love letter to Brisbane as much as a portrait of an opera program, its students and founders. The film opens to classical music and some of the best drone photography ever seen of Brisbane city and the Brisbane River captured at dawn. It will be a treat for French and International audiences to see our beautiful city.”

Love Opera, directed by Liselle Mei, showcases the LGNOP as it prepares a production of Carmen with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.

The LGNOP is nestled within the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University and was established by Lisa Gasteen, the Brisbane soprano whose career took her to the heights of international opera stardom performing at The Met in New York and The Royal Opera House at Covent Garden in London.

Gasteen heads the program at the LGNOP with Brisbane’s Nancy Underhill and the film features former QSO chief conductor Alondra de la Parra and internationally renowned conductor Simone Young.

Budding local opera stars Morgan England-Jones and Rachel Pines are the young stars.

Love Opera stars Rachel Pines and Morgan England-Jones.

“Our characters are millenials who have chosen to have careers in opera though their voices won’t reach their peaks for many years so it is a huge gamble to put so much effort into this career,” Trish Lake says. “Even if their voices are amazing only a handful of singers make a career out of it.”

The Cannes screening comes on the eve of Love Opera’s digital Video On Demand and DVD release later this month. Viewers can visit www.loveoperafilm.com.au for more information.