Many of the Australian films at this year’s Flickerfest had interesting themes and elements to them of which were futuristic, aboriginal, religious and even very unexpected. All in all, I was surprised at the number of religious movies shown, many of which took a darker turn than expected as well. Films like Sleepwalking, Ritual, and Shiloh told stories of broken families with issues occurring leading to very disturbing and dark moments. Many of these movies left me confuses about what had taken place and I’m still unsure if this is due to the fact that I may be uneducated on these practices or they were indeed just out there. On the other hand, films like Spectrum, A Low Hum, and Dolls took place in either present day or the future and were much brighter films that had more relatable aspects to them. I would not think a film like Ritual would do well with a US audience because of its dark nature and the same goes for Sleepwalking. One film I really enjoyed was Calling which followed the relationship between an Australian mother and daughter as the mother learns how to use technology and social networks like Facebook and messaging. Calling provided humor and was easy to watch as the story was extremely relatable to many of my own interactions with my mom. I also noticed that many of these films did revolve around technology and its enhancements or even the troubles it brings with it to society today. Overall, I think many of these darker films would not have done well with a US audience, but I do not know how the Australian audience reacted to these kinds of films. Personally, I do not like stories about abusive families but that may just be me and I could see why these stronger stories are told. I do not think these dark films represent the overall culture of Australia well, rather, films like Calling, Dolls, and A Low Hum do a better job at showing off the friendly nature of the country and the forgiving aspects of the people who reside here.
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